Cracked Quartz
by Heaven's Chocolate
Summary: "Chaldea, you are the heroes humanity is in dire need. Show them what it means to be heroes. The tragedies, the joys, the struggle. Save them, save us all, from the incoming annihilation. I asked too much out of you, I know, but you who have saved humanity already I must ask you to go against an impossible enemy once more. Be brave, and be responsible to overcome this hurdle."
1. 1-1

_AN: Hello there dear readers, I have come to you with a new story. I've been wanting to do a story while using the Chaldea cast for a while and I have found the perfect setting for them! I'm glad._

_Knowledge of both Fate/Grand Order and Worm is suggested if you want to have an easier time understanding the references._

_Without further ado, let's let the story do the talking for itself._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**ARC 1: Brave**

Grey dull metal rumbled at me. I could see the smooth surface tremble, a loose screw shook and twirled as the trembling continued. I followed the line where the screw had been drilled into, seeing certain indentations from the design of the ventilation system that connected with the outlet. I took a deep breath, feeling the thin mattress beneath dent, my lungs filled in with cold artificial air. I let it out, my eyes focusing on my lips as I let the air out.

Then I repeat the process again.

The continuous sound of 'WOOOM' made me fidget, my heart race and eyes watered. I let out another breath escape me and flinched.

_It's not working…I can't stay in this damn room anymore!_

I tore myself from my bed, I stopped and stumbled a little as the room I was in spun a little. I shook my head, then I stomped towards where my uniforms were. I stopped looking at the disorganized and thrown clothing on the small desk and chair, my hands went for my worn and patched up Combat Mystic Code but I stopped,_ if I wear this I'm just inviting my bad luck to rear its ugly head again, _my hands went for one my most recent outfits. I took the black Mystic Code and began putting it on.

The straps of my Arctic Mystic Code were buckled, I made sure the belt around my waist was holding my skirt in place and nodded in satisfaction. I noticed a tear on the right black sleeve of my outfit and I traced a finger over the ripped fabric, wondering when was it that I let myself get tagged by the enemy.

_Not like it matters now. Whoever did this is probably long dead…Along with everything they cared and grew up with_, I shook my head and focused on the present.

I turned towards the metallic door of the bare and sterile bunk and got out of the small hole that I had claimed as my room. I walked down the hall, feeling the floor rumble underneath me with each step I took. Walking for a few meters I reached the door that led to the command center of the Shadow Border, I hear prickling a little as muffled chatter pass through the metallic walls. I got inside—

"Preposterous!"

I jumped, well, more like tiptoed before settling back down and look toward my left at overweight and sweating director of the formerly known Chaldea, now current Captain of the Shadow Border, Goldolf Musik. Dress immaculately in his white and gold coat, gloves, pants and shoes, blue button-down dress shirt. The man reached for a handkerchief from his pocket, drying up the sweat rolling down his pale chubby cheeks. His blonde hair and mustache sticky to his pallid skin.

"Are you alright?" I asked, tilting my head slightly to the right and feigning ignorance.

"Of course not! And I won't be alright either! No! I refuse to be alright! I just met the Old Man of the Jewels and you expect me to be alright!?"

My lips quirked up, seeing a movement to my right, I saw Meuniere turned from his sit overseeing the computer system of the Shadow Border. His lips were pulled down, eyes narrowed into slit as he regarded Goldorf, a typical expression on the darker blonde and green uniform Chaldea Staff member whenever dealing with Goldolf's antics.

"Yeah…we all did."

Goldorf snaps towards him, eyes wide. "What!? Is that all you have to say!? After meeting such a legend in the flesh!? I had thought that I would've been destroyed for sure!"

"Why?" Meuniere drawled as he turned back to the computer screens before and continued working.

"Why!? Because that is the man who ruins the life of any magus who he comes across! A t-trickster with the power to send you to other worlds out of his infinite boredom! I was terrified!"

"My, my Captain, you shouldn't be believing in such false rumors! You could invite the wrong reaction from the right people."

I turned towards the smiling little girl, her blue eyes bright and sparkling, round face framed by her dark brown hair. She looked back at them from one of the driver's seat, her colorful renaissances outfit contrasting against the monochrome colors of the CC room. Da Vinci's blue eyes shifted towards me and I felt my lips pulled down slightly—

The face of an older da Vinci flashed before my eyes, covered in blood and eyes glazing over.

"Hahaha! Miss da Vinci do leave Mister Goldorf alone. Seeing a man be incorrect about their prior deductions and realize this error is truly the most amusing thing to see!" The voice of a good culture man beside da Vinci sounded off.

The chair spun slightly, showing a pale man with black-slick-back hair, wearing a long black trenchcoated with a Victorian-like suit underneath the coat. Sherlock Holmes looked at Goldorf with an arching eyebrow so high and pointy that it almost formed an upside-down 'V'. His smirk seemed to be just as pronounced as his eyebrow, making the overweight man turned red.

"Gah!"

I let out a small sigh escape my nostrils and moved further into the CC room. I stopped, my eyes squinting shut slightly as a bright yellow light filtered through the Shadow Border's armored glass windows. I turned towards and peeked at the world outside.

There was a myriad of colors, red, green, yellow, purple, blue, orange and so many more. They twisted and turned, elongating like the branches of a tree and showing a near limitless amount of possibilities. Shining stars glowed brightly and proudly before disappearing through the countless colors, their light swallowed by now stagnant colors.

I recognized it quite easily, pulling some locks of my auburn hair out of my eyes. I myself had a hand in snuffing out those shining stars, those worlds filled with possibilities, hopes, dreams, and ways of life by now.

"Sempai?"

I turned around to see Mash, the girl was armored up. Her Ortenaus suit clung to the pallid hair girl, the visor pulled up over her head. 'Clank-Clank-Clank' sounded off as her armored feet took steps to approach me.

"Armored up already? You know we won't reach our destination until a couple of hours right?"

"I know, but, you suited up yourself as well sempai. It's because you got anxious too?"

"I…" I looked away, stepping on the balls of my foot. I felt a tear through my fingers and I stopped, tightening my hold over the ripped fabric of my shirt.

"Alright! Everyone roundup, let us have a last minute meeting." Da Vinci spoke, intervening before I had to find a reason as to why I didn't just sleep in. I moved around Mash, stepping away from her. I stopped and turned towards Mash, who looked at me with quirked eyebrows and an intense gaze. I felt like recoiling at that.

"Nah, I just wanted to be ready for anything." I forced a confident grin, before turning away from her and focusing on the now mini-circle of people. I stepped into the group.

"Okay everyone—!" Da Vinci stopped, blinking slightly as she looked down. We followed her gaze and saw a small squirrel-like, white fur and fluffy Fou running right into the center.

"Fou fou!"

"Well it would seem everyone is here," Holmes said, leaning back slightly. Mash knelt down beside me, spreading her arms for Fou and the small creature yipped, running up to her arms. She stood up with him cuddled up in her chest.

"Hrm, well now to continue before I was interrupted. As Ritsuka-chan said, we are mere hours away from arriving into the World that originated the catastrophe. But what you may not know is that we actually have a few minutes left before hitting the wall connecting to that World."

"Wall?" I asked as I looked down at the child version of da Vinci.

"Indeed, it is the wall that the well accomplished Wizard Marshall saw that separates the World that will reach calamity, to our World which has already passed the point of calamity."

"This is all so confusing…we must investigate something on such a massive scale? Why us? We already have much to deal with the Lostbelts in our World!" Goldorf bit into his right index finger, sweat rolling down his whited face.

"Come now Mister Goldorf, you mustn't look at this situation in such a bleak manner! Instead, look at it as called for discovering a mystery! The Wizard Marshall has given us an opportunity to discover the truth. Is the enemy that holds these Worlds hostage the one responsible for whitening ours in an endless nothing? These question must serve as fuel for our next quest!"

"Whoa, Mister Sherlock, even despite how bad things looked you are still this confident?" Mash smile, eyes brightening. "Well of course you are, Sherlock Holmes isn't afraid of solving cases and helping the innocent."

"Um…" Holmes blinked a couple of times, his arching eyebrow finally sagging down as he looked away.

I had to shake my head at Holmes reaction. The Servant was so caught up and giddy at the prospect of being put on this case and solving a great mystery that he was being purposely ignorant to common sense. I looked at everyone.

"Anyways, our approach to this case…how do we handle it? We go the Singularity route or…or the Lostbelt route…?"

"Do we even have a date? I mean I don't even know how far back we've been thrown when that guy used his Magic and the CHALDEAS replica." Meuniere's word seemed to make Goldorf shudder.

"Are we absolutely certain that that Old Man of the Jewels is not playing a prank on us? You folk haven't been inside the Mage Association and haven't heard the terrifying stories of him!"

Da Vinci rolled her eyes, turning around and heading for the computer screen on the driver seats.

"Like I already told you, great Director, listening to such defaming rumors may get you in trouble in the future. Now, let us see the date. We're supposed to be landing in the nineteen-eighties, the moment when the Worlds were segregated…oh, okay, we're about to pass the wall. So hold on ju—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Everyone jumped, the shriek that came from the Servant was bloodcurdling, raw and strained.

"Da Vinci-chan!" I was already moving, the hairs in the back of my neck standing straight at the uncharacteristic shriek from the homunculi-slash-Servant. I stopped when she fell down the floor, convulsing and particles of mana suddenly being released from her.

"GUGHRK!"

"Mister Holmes!" Meuniere's cry made me stop and whirl around, seeing the male Servant in the exact same position as da Vinci. I froze, what could I do? What was even happening!? I—

Everything went black. I felt something scratching into my brain and I grabbed my head, shaking it harshly to alleviate the sensation. I opened my eyes and—

_A forest of writhing, convulsing and moving flesh—_

I stumbled back, my eyes frantic and pulsed hammering against my chest.

_Tentacles reach towards falling stars, seeing their trajectory and confirming that the other was dead—_

I slammed my hands against my head. "What is thi—!?"

_A human form stood in the void of stars, looking at the world. Reaching a hand towards it and—_

A loud 'THUNK' made my eyes snapped towards the armored girl who fell to her knees. Fou was beside the girl yipping at her and licking her face. The image became a blur as I focused on Mash, the excruciating pain becoming but an irritating throb.

"Mash! What's wrong!?"

"I…I don't know…but it…hurts…Sempai…it hurts!" I slid on the floor, reaching the girl and wrapping my arms around her. I immediately flinched away, hissing in pain as my hands were red hot. I look at her, feeling my chest heave and contract as I watched Mash tremble and her body starts to let out steam.

"W-What is this!? A trap!? Mister Meuniere! To the driver's seat now!" Goldorf voice was shaky but had gained some strength when he issued his command. There were heavy, hurried footsteps that were followed by 'CREEK!' from the driver seat.

"What the hell do you mean by that!? We need to help them!" Meuniere exploded, his words laced with anger. Mash fell down on the floor face first, her arms holding her chest and moaning incoherently. From the corner of my eyes as I saw his feet fidget, left to right. As if he was unsure to run towards the shrieking da Vinci or stay with gurgling Holmes.

"We must turn this vehicle around! Whatever is happening we can prevent it if we pull back!" I turned away from the pained Demi-Servant and looked at Goldorf. The man was fast at work, his hands going for the wheel of the vehicle, tapping buttons quickly and pulling sticks to make something happen. The Shadow Border rumble and the blonde magus let out a surprised squeak.

I turned away from him and towards the other still standing crewmember.

"Meuniere go help him!" I order the Chaldea Staff member, who looked at me, then nodded and ran for the driver's seat. I turned back to Mash and—_the human shape reach out for— _I bit the inside of my cheeks, wincing at the sharp pain and metallic taste. I ignored them and went to pat Mash's head and wincing at the increased heat. "It's going to be alright, Mash. Just breathe and focus on my voice. Okay? Can you focus on me, Mash?"

"I…I…I'm…t-t-trying…!" Her broken voice made my chest tightened as my eyes darting to every inch of her shaking body. Fou started rubbing his face with her body, yipping at her.

"Mister Meuniere have you found how to turn us around!?"

"No! We're completely railroad to our destination!" I turned towards the two, seeing them tapping and checking computers monitors. Goldorf attempting to brute strength the helm of the border into turning the vehicle away.

"We—" 'PING-PING-PING' "What the!? What in the blazes is that pinging!?"

The monitor in front of Meuniere was flashing red. "It's our scanners! They picked up something! It's coming from three worlds ahead!"

"Lock on and get us in that world then!" I order, giving the two drivers my full focus. Meuniere turned towards me with wide eyes.

"Are you crazy!? What if it's a trap!?"

"Then we'll deal with it! Right now the only people who can defend us are screaming and disappearing! So if an ambush is waiting for us we'll connect to a Leyline and deal with them! Meuniere lock us on onto the signal!"

"I-I—! Fine whatever you say, boss! Hey, Goldorf can you handle the driving!?"

"Of course! I am the captain of this ship! So I'll make sure we all get out of this in one piece!"

"Alright then! We're approaching the signal in ten seconds! Locking onto unknown frequency and activating Zero Sail system in five, four, three, two, one!"

"Hold on everyone!" Goldorf grunted as he snapped the wheel towards the right.

The image of myriads of colors from the windows stretched and thinned until only a bright star was consuming the windows. It grew in size and brightness until I couldn't look at it anymore, my eyes closed and the Border rumbled and tumbled. I felt to my knees, instincts making me brace myself for the fall and protecting my head from smashing against the floor. I opened my eyes and saw the Command Center was completely white, sparks flew from the ceiling, glass burst from the monitors.

Then, the white disappear—

I looked up as I felt the brightness leave. My eyes swiveled towards Goldorf and Meuniere, both covering their faces with their hands and screaming. I focused on the windows and saw blue—

CRASH!

I flew back, a strangle cry flew through the rocketing Command Center and I wonder for a brief second if it was from me or from Goldorf or Meuniere. My back hit against one of the monitors and the thought was forgotten as I felt my vision go black.


	2. 1-2

_The world looked so small. The figure reached out with its hands towards it, wrapping a hand around the sphere and crushing it into a fist. _

_The figure let its hand fall against its side and dropped. As if its string had been cut in went down, burning as it hit the atmosphere of the world. It continues its descent until it didn't. All motion ceased in the air, the fire was washed away and the figure stood in the air immaculately._

_It looked towards the mountain valleys draped in the morning sun._

_The morning sun became cold at midnight._

_The cold midnight became a warm morning._

[Query]

_It had asked itself multiple times but never reached a conclusion. It looked beyond the mountain valleys, it saw something move._

_It moved towards the movement. It stopped as it saw something._

[Human]

_It was female in the early stages of pubescent, hair color was blonde. The ocular organs of the female humans were bright green as it looked up at its form. The female reached out, a small hand wanting for it to take her. It looked down at her._

_[Query]  
_

_It asked once more, but nothing came. It was pure chance that it drifted towards the female. It noticed this action and stopped, looking at the female it imitated her._

_Its hands touched the females and it allowed itself to feel the touch.  
_

_It was struck with a sensation of—_

CRACK-CRASH! FZZEE!

My eyes snapped opened, flickering from left to right as I looked at the darken CC room. I hurriedly sat and— "Argh!" I immediately flinched my left hand going for my back as I supported myself on my right. I bit my lips, feeling the teeth scrape and stab into the flesh at pulsing pain in my lower back. I let a shuddering breath escape me, nodding to myself and licking my lips, I shakily got to my knees. I looked around and a saw a groaning Goldorf face first on the floor while Meuniere was trying to get up, but falling on all floor as he looked around, squinting and reaching for something.

His glasses were absent from his face, there was also a trickle of blood going down his face. _A cut from his forehead…glass? Was it his glasses?_

I shook my head and got to my feet, stumbling slightly and gasping as my back flared up in pain.

"Fou! Fou!"

I looked down at the white mascot of Chaldea, my left hand trying to soothe my pain as I followed after him and saw—

"Mash!" I hurried my steps, wincing as I attempted to kneel. I immediately got to my feet, eyes closed and teeth bared. I just looked down at the purplish hair girl shake her head and looked up at me.

"…Ghu…Sempai…"

"Are you okay Mash?" The Demi-Servant answer my question by looking at me with more focused eyes and nodding. She forced herself up, using her forearms to catapult her upper body up and kneel on the floor. She nearly fell to her back but she kept her balance, hands going for her chest.

"W-What…happened? I felt…I felt as I was on fire…Sempai…it hurt so bad…"

"I don't know Mash…" I forced myself to bend over and place a hand on her shoulder, giving her one of my confident smiles. "But it's over now, you're fine."

The girl smiled at my reassurance and nodded, getting to her feet quickly. She stumbled and I had to pull back in surprise— "Gha!"

"Sempai!" Mash pulled forward, her arms going for my waist and left arm. "Are you okay!? Did you get hurt!?"

_No shit. _And immediately I felt shame for that brief surge of frustration at my partner and friend. I looked away from her, feeling her hands tightened around my arm. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Let's worry about the others."

I gave her a smile, trying to get her worry expression to go away before I turned away from her. I looked at Goldorf and Meuniere both up on their feet, shaky and unsteady but up. Meuniere had recuperated his glasses and was looking at da Vinci, who laid flat on her back with her eyes closed.

"I shall deduce…that we had a rough landing, hm?" The pained voice that came from the back of the Command Center made me turned to look at Holmes. The detective was sprawled on the floor, eyes closed and soft grimace over his handsome pale features. He opened his eyes and looked at me.

"Mister Sherlock! Are you alright?" Mash went towards him, kneeling beside the man she helped him get into a sitting position. He turned his gaze towards the Demi-Servant and gave her a thin smile.

"Indeed I am, whatever was it that caused our fall is quite the mystery. Though I will not be alright for I have also figured that the captain of the vessel, Mister Goldorf has managed to land us in the inside of a sewer tunnel…why you may ask? Because that horrid smell is filtering through the cracked windows. And I refuse to dirty my coat with such stench!"

"Well, you better start thinking of getting a replacement!" I turned towards the raw and hoarse voice of da Vinci, seeing her sitting on her own with a groan. Meuniere helped her get up her feet.

"H-Hey are you okay?" The homunculi Servant ignored him and walked towards the monitors on the driver area of the CC room. She started typing a few commands, the screen in front of her flashed red and the Command Center's light turned on. She then turned towards me.

"Ritsuka-chan you take Mash and Holmes with you, I need you to find a Ley-line to connect with and investigate the beacon."

I blinked at the clear cut tone of the usual cheery da Vinci.

"W-What!? Isn't it a little too soon to start taking action?" I turned towards Goldorf who was using a handkerchief to clean some bruises on his forehead. Da Vinci looked at him then back at me.

"While I was screaming my heart out, I heard everything Ritsuka-chan said and I agree. We can't waste time, if what happened was really an ambush then I would rather take this time to make sure we're ready to face it. So we really can't waste time."

I nodded, looked back at Holmes and Mash who were standing straight. They both looked back at me and nodded. I returned my focus back on da Vinci. "What about the Shadow Border? Can't we use it to move around?"

Da Vinci tapped a few buttons, without looking and the Border rumble. I flinched a little when it started to shake but otherwise didn't move.

"The Shadow Border has suffered multiple damages in the landing, some of the confirmed damages are the drive system, the Zero Sail system, the Paper Moon system, the radio frequency system. Among others, I can manage to salvage the communication system and the tracking system in order to keep an eye on that beacon." She turned towards Meuniere. "You'll help me get back things in order because I need to investigate just what happened when we passed that 'wall'."

"Um…yeah, I understand." Meuniere's answer was nervous, I couldn't blame him, da Vinci being this serious was a rare event. The female Servant turned towards Goldorf, but the blonde man raised a hand towards her and nodded.

"I understand my position, I shall divert all my focus into communications! As captain of this vessel, I shall keep our three agents up to date with events!"

"Oh…" Da Vinci blinked, then nodded. I felt like sighing in exasperation, da Vinci actually looked somewhat disappointed. "It seems you are on tops of things. Good."

"How are we going to track the beacon?" Mash asked. Da Vinci tilted her head at her, then facepalmed.

"Mi dispiace, I think I'm a little loopy still." The young Servant closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose tightly with her gloved hands and shook her head. She turned back to the console and started typing a few keys. "Okay...okay...alright, done. Ritsuka-chan, check your watch. The tracking system of the Border should be linked to it, though I can't seem to connect the virtual map function of it. Sorry!"

"Don't worry, Mister Goldorf will guide us through." I looked at the blonde who nodded in self-assurance.

"Indeed I shall!" The heavyset man proudly proclaims with one behind his back.

"Hmm, the captain does seem quite confident, so I can't tease him too much. So, Ritsuka-chan, Mash you two have been at this before. Get out there and secure us a perimeter." Da Vinci told us as she started to drag Meuniere away from the CC room... I nodded, turning towards a serious looking Mash and grumbling Holmes.

"Truly, to treat me as if I were some wet behind the ears cop. Just how hard did she hit her head during that little episode back there, hm?"

I ignored him, walking forward and towards the door of the Command Center. "Let's go!"

I lead Mash and Holmes through the Shadow Border and finally to the outside. The first thing that it's my senses is the smell. I grimaced at it, I heard a throaty groan from Holmes and looked at him, seeing him raised his stylish coat up with an undignified expression. Mash hefted her massive mechanical Shield with one arm and looked at me, visor pulled down.

"Whenever you're ready Sempai."

I let out a breath, feeling lips pulled up, really wishing that I could have her endless determination and keep going forward like she always does. It was shocking and even pressuring just how much trust Mash had on me. It was tough to meet those expectations at all times…but it kept me going.

Despite how much sometimes I just wanted to pull back and close the doors of the Border, hiding inside my room and just keep myself concealed in there, I just couldn't.

"Let's go."

We stepped off the Border, walking through the dark, filthy sewer tunnel that was connected to the ocean. I turned to look at the Border and grimaced slightly, the point of impact from where the Border landed and bounced off was excessive in its destruction. There was a giant crater, the floor had given out and fallen into a lower level of the sewers. It was a miracle that the Border hadn't just detonated and gotten everyone killed.

The Shadow Border itself was crashed against the side of the tunnel wall. It was damaged and looking somewhat bared with pieces of armor ripped from its side. Three out of the twelve wheels of the mobile base center were missing, while the rest were deflated or blown out. It was a complete mess, something which was worrying.

I started moving forward despite this, keeping my guard up as I looked around at the dirty and smelly sewer. I zig-zagging through the destroyed floor, being careful not to step in any sharp debris. I had to jump from side to side a little just to continue forward. I jumped to a patched of the ground that remained intact and I turned back to look at the tunnel.

"Quite the entrance, wouldn't you say Miss Ritsuka?" I turned towards Holmes and nodded. Mash approached me and turned her head towards the tunnel.

"The Shadow Border really can take a lot of punishment…but I don't think its too much of a good idea to keep doing that. We might actually fully break it." I pursed my lips, eyes looking at the destruction again. The sound of the waves behind me making the hairs stand straight in the back of my neck.

"But why is it so badly damaged? It couldn't have been the crash…"

"Ah, hypothesizing an answer into our conundrum hmm?" Holmes asked, pulling out a golden ornate smoking pipe from his dark duster and manifesting one of his mechanical arms from behind his back which held magnifying glasses. It suddenly launched at a bright, thin stream of hot light into the object in his hands. Smoke poured out from the pipe and he took a drag out of it, letting out a plume of smoke escape his mouth. He looked down at me. "But you are most probably correct, it may not have been the crash which did this horrifying amount of damage to our current home."

"So it was maybe the trap Sempai was talking about?" Mash holsters her shield closer to me, something I had gotten used to anyway.

"It's better if we just keep moving," I said getting the two of them back in track, it wouldn't do us any good if we started getting distracted with what ifs or how's. The two fell silent at this, nodding at me and moving with me towards the edge of the tunnel. We peered out and saw the vast ocean before us. I peaked a little outside, turning my gaze left and right to see if there was anything out there. I saw a decaying wet harbor, the wooden planks leading up to somewhere that I couldn't see thanks to the edges of the tunnel. Still, the jump was clearly a good Fifty feet away, but it was easy. I turned towards my companions and gestured to what I saw silently.

The two in near automatic movement got to work. Mash stepped in front, Shield at the ready while Holmes coiled an arm around my waist and lifted me off. The two bend over and jumped. It was a superhuman feat, no human could ever possibly accomplish such a thing. It was impossible.

That was what Servants tended to do.

_So why are we failing to make the jump!?_

My eyes were wide as Mash and Holmes flopped in the midway point, crashing into the waves harshly. I gasped in surprise at the failure and coldness, feeling water start to fill my lungs, not even expecting something like this to happen even when it was concerning Servants. Mash despite having lost most of her power with Galahad was incredibly combat ready, the same with Holmes despite his nature of being more of a detective than a fighter. But such a jump from fifty feet should've been a piece of cake, something so easy and trivial.

I felt myself being pulled through the cold waters, then pulled up and the sound of bursting through the water was all around me. I landed on my back, gasping for breath. I turned around and started coughing harshly, spewing water from my lungs through my mouth. After a few minutes, my throat was raw and raspy as I turned towards a shivering Mash and Holmes, who stood at the edge of the pear with narrowed eyes.

"What just happened!?" I asked them as I stood up, shivering as a cold wind hit my wet body.

"I-I'm sorry Sempai…" Mash rubbed her free hand on her exposed thighs and shivered as goosebumps appeared all over her skin. "I-I d-don't know what was that."

I turned away from her and onto Holmes. The man closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Let us focus on making a perimeter and finding Ley-line Miss Ritsuka. I believe Miss da Vinci will have sufficient answers ready for us whenever we get back."

_Meaning you already figured it out, or at least have some idea as to what is happening but aren't sharing it._

I shook my head and turned to look up when I noticed a shadow looming over me. I blinked as I saw large abandoned, dirty, graffitied up building surrounding the harbor. I walked forward, feeling the wooden panels of the harbor creak in protest with my movement. I saw concrete stairs at the end of the rotten wooden passage and went up to them, I stopped when I saw two old homeless people standing sitting by the side of a building.

I heard the soft 'thuds' from Mash's armor, I turned towards her. Would Mash being dressed like this bring any sort of trouble? I still don't know where exactly we were, but I wasn't willing to risk any danger towards her or the rest of the crew. I bit my lips and took a risk.

"Sempai?" I blinked and flinched back slightly, Mash's lips were pulled down slightly as she stared back at me through her visor covered face. "Is something wrong Sempai?"

"No, nothing." I turned away and headed towards the homeless men, with my companion in tow. I took long strides until I made it to them. Stopping right in front of them, I waved at them, catching their attention. When they looked at me I noticed their wrinkled face, the dirt, and filth on them. Both were old, black and white, bald and hairy.

"Hrm…what's a little missy doing in a place like this?" The black homeless man asked, tilting his head.

"Hey! Hey! I thought I told you, whores, to stop bothering us, we ain't got no money for your pimp!" The white dirty man said, a scowl in place. I frowned a little but carried on.

"I'm not—!" My response was interrupted by the black homeless man eyes widening, flinching back.

"Fuck! Tom, she's a cape! I told you it was a fucking dumb idea!" His panicked rant made the white man pale, looking up at me with haggard breaths.

"H-Hey…listen, we…we don't want any trouble…so—fuck! We didn't do it I fucking swear it was Duke, it was fucking him!" The man started crawling away as his black companion glared daggers at him.

"You fucking prick!"

I blinked at their response, tilting my head slightly towards Holmes. The slicked hair man, let out a hummed and stepped forward.

"Hmm, indeed, we know very much what you degenerates have done!" Holmes said, flourishing his ornate cane and stabbing it into the floor harshly. This scared the two men straight, making them sweat and look at us with clear fear in his eyes. "But! We are willing to let it pass if you tell us in what section of the city we are! You see we got quite turned around and we need a little hint as to where we turned up. If you do us this favor, you can run along."

The two homeless men looked at each other, then back at us and nodded. The white man answered with a shaky breath.

"You're in Hunts Points man! There, we can go!?"

"Sure!" Holmes smiled viciously as he leaned in forward. "But do remember we found you, even if it was by accident, we are quite aware of your misdeeds gentleman. Now do run along."

The two homeless men burst from their position, scrambling to get to their feet and running off. I saw them turned the corner and disappeared behind it. They were quite spry for their age, but their words still lingered in my head as I imagine what they had partially confessed.

"Whoa Mister Holmes, you knew they were criminals from the get-go?" Mash asked innocently, I turned towards her and felt a smile tugged at my lips at how giddy and excited she looked. Holmes let out a barking laugh as he struck a pose with his cane and arched his brow for dramatic effect.

"But of course, miserable wretched like those two are nothing but an open book for the likes of me. One mere glance at them and I had deduced their crimes and the sins they both committed down to their very being."

I frowned at that, l turned back to where the two had run off and looked back at Holmes. "So what did those two do?"

Holmes smug air dissipated and he looked at me with a passive expression. "Let's just say that they are scum."

I felt my nails pierced into the flesh of my palms as I looked away. An acidic taste rouses up my throat and I shook my head to get rid of it.

_Is this the kind of world I'm fighting for?_

I felt like slapping myself at the thought, feeling like my chest was tight and my breathing had gone cold. I let out a shaky breath and—I flinched when I felt a gauntlet hand on my shoulder. I whirled around and saw Mash, her visor now up, showing her gaze focus on me.

"Sempai…are you sure you're okay?"

I smiled shakily at her and nodded, not trusting my voice to answer truthfully…or deny it. I turned towards Holmes. "So, Hunts Point? Where's that?"

"New York I believe, yes, indeed! It is in New York, specifically the South Bronx. Where does the radar point to for our mysterious beacon."

I raised the watched that was on my right hand, it was black and white, its technology sophisticated and smooth. It had a screen showing a digital clock, presenting that it was maybe noon by now if the time was correct. I pressed the upper button on the watched, seeing the digital clock disappear as a redpoint appeared on the black screen. I pushed the button underneath the first and the beacon became smaller, almost the size pinpoint, though still glowing red and sending waves to make it clear where it was. A blue line form from the red dot towards a blue dot. The blue dot was me and from how long the blue line was, the beacon was very far away.

"It's southwest of our position, give or take a couple of miles."

"So, what do we do? Can you see any Ley-lines Sempai?"

"Nope…" I tapped a few keys into my watch, raising it to the sky I felt the watch vibrate slightly and a blue light pulsed. I brought it down and stared at the screen. "No…unless there's some delay with this, I can't find any magical Ley-lines anywhere."

"What do you think Mister Holmes?"

"I think, my dear Mash, that if we investigate the beacon, a solution to our problems shall form." I looked up from the watched and let out a sigh.

"You just want to figure out what the beacon is Holmes." The man didn't design a response to my words and I sighed again. "Fine, I guess its better if we actually try to do some investigation for now. But let's get back to the Border and find some change clothes. I don't want any attention drawn on us."

"Huh!?" Mash stepped forward, her hold over her shield slacking slightly. "But Sempai, I can't take out the Ortenaus suit! I won't be able to protect you if something happens!"

"No worries Miss Mash! I shall take care of any adversaries should they decide to confront us."

"But…" Mash looked at me her eyes pleading. I turned away from her gaze and just shook my head.

"Come on Mash, have a little trust in me here."

"…" The pale hair girl frowned at my words, I felt my chest tightened at the look and I began chewing on my lip in anticipation at her words. "…fine. But I will be coming with you no matter what."

I just nodded, playing with my hair a little as I looked off to the side. _Seriously, what was I thinking? Of course, Mash would agree with me…if course she would trust me…_

I heard a light cough from Holmes and I straighten up. I began stalking back towards the Border, feeling my legs carry me in a hurry.

"Come on, let's go get change."


	3. 1-3

Walking through the downtrodden streets of Hunts Point put me on edge. It was a feeling I couldn't shake ever since the beginning of my days in Chaldea. Traveling to different periods of time, working with historical figures, seeing old foreign cultures and battling against impossible odds was something that had my heart pounding. It was exhilarating compare to the little monotonous town I came from.

It made me feel bigger and stronger.

But holy shit was I scared out of my mind.

I squared my shoulders, straightened my back and walked with firmer steps. This wasn't the time to get tense in a new environment. Was it instinct? Was it experience teaching me that I shouldn't let my guard down? I clenched my fists, feeling my hands get clammy and itchy.

I bit my lip as I saw people around, poor, old, black, bruised or dirty walking around with their everyday lives. Mothers dragged unruly children away from unnerving men. Children ran in packs, dressed in costumes of some superheroes while others dressed like typical gang members. Ahead I could see older teenagers, dressed the same as the children that were playing like thugs, but something told me that they weren't playing. I ignored their jeers and whistles as I passed through. I ignored the trashy women howling at Holmes to come with them to have a good time. I ignored the disgruntled racist when he saw me and said: "Don't those fucking squint eyes have anywhere else to go that isn't here!"

I shook my head and continued walking through the streets and looking at the architecture around me. Buildings looked decrepit, cracked, and old. Graffiti filled the walls, saying things that were hard to understand due to their designs or weird symbols looking like they came out of a comic book. There was a certain musk in the air, a combination of uncleanliness and sex that permeated the alleyways. The colors of gray, brown and black were dominant through the streets. I looked up at the clear blue sky, so cheerful and bright as if mocking the state of the city. I wondered what was the state of this world: was it like a Singularity, a mistake that needed to be fixed for the greater good? Or a Lostbelt, a fantasy that I would crush just to have what I called the proper timeline of mankind return?

I bit my lips at that. Lostbelts. The mere thought of it made me shudder, not out of disgust, but out of fear of what had to be done. Singularities were simple adventures to go through - despite the danger, despite the bonds that were formed, they were easy. Singularities were just a single point in an era that went wrong, traveling to the past and fixing them wasn't wrong. It was the correct thing to do; once they were fixed, everyone would go back to normal. Everyone who died within those Singularities would come back because, after all, they were mistakes never meant to occur…

But I was being stupid…Of course, there would be consequences. Singularities were divergences at a point in the past. So if someone died during that paradoxical event then surely they would still be dead. I let out a sigh. Da Vinci and the Doctor had both hidden the truth from me. It had hurt, to learn that despite all my actions people would still be dead. But the world needed fixing, and I was the only one available to do it. I had the power and the means to fix them, despite how impossible it seemed.

Lostbelts were another thing though. I had made the error of calling them mistakes at first - something wrong, something that needed to be gotten rid of. The mere thought made me feel nauseous. Was it wrong to judge a different history, a different culture, a different humanity just because they were different than my own?

No, they were stepping on the grounds of the very history I tried to keep safe…But it was wrong and I was making excuses. It wasn't their fault, they weren't the ones who asked to be born under a world that had another Ice Age, or one where Ragnarok didn't finish properly or even one where Utopia had been reached. It wasn't their fault.

So was it the Crypters? The ones who had betrayed humanity for some alien god in order to impose their own fantasy into reality?

It was debatable.

I looked back down and saw that the further I walked the cleaner the streets became, the odor disappearing and being replaced by the smell of smoke and food. After a few minutes, I blinked as a new city was revealed to me.

The bustling hitting my ears was unnerving. People, normal modern people dressed in twentieth or twenty-first-century clothing, walked by me or beside me. They talked on their phones, carried their suitcases or purses, their hotdogs or sodas, held hands with their girlfriends or boyfriends, wives or husbands, children, their dogs, their cats. Normal people with bored expressions or tired ones or excited ones.

My eyes darted everywhere, taking in the appearance of the tall buildings, of the shops. I blinked as I saw a few skyscrapers in the distance. My heart beat as the noise kept increasing more and more. I looked at the stable businesses, at the busy citizens, at the still intact buildings.

Everything looks so—

"It looks quite normal, doesn't it Miss Ritsuka."

I nearly jumped, turning to look at the passive face of Holmes. He was dressed less conspicuously than his usual attire, forgoing his stylish coat and metal corset, and only wearing his button-down dress shirt with the grey vest over it. His long tight black pants and shoes fit with his overall lanky form. This combined with his sharp pale face and slicked back hair made it seem as if he were some model taking a stroll through the New York streets. I noted how women and men alike turned and gave him appreciative looks.

"It's been so long since we've seen so much life in such a large place."

My head turned to where Mash was walking, who was keeping close to my right, nearly bumping shoulders with me. She had outfitted herself once more in her normal clothing: a plain grey jacket over her sleeveless black thigh-high dress, and a sleeveless white button down shirt with the collar popping out over the black dress. A short red tie with the insignia of Chaldea was over her chest,and she had on long black leggings and brown shoes. She was dressed conservatively, her cute face hidden behind her glasses. The only thing that stood out her hair and even then it wasn't that much of a glaring issue; I had seen a few people with hair dyed in neon greens, blues or pinks.

"Yeah…" I responded as I smoothed out my white long sleeve shirt; it was the typical Chaldea uniform from before the Incineration of the Human Order. I felt some gazes down at my black leggings and quite short black skirt. My cheeks burned, pulling my skirt down slightly, something I hadn't done in almost three years.

I nearly jumped when my watch started vibrating on my wrist. I looked at the blue light flashing, and looked at Mash and Holmes who convened on me as I drew the watch close to my face. Activating it I could hear the nervous breathing of Goldorf.

"Miss Fujimaru, is everything okay?"

I blinked at the question, a nervous pit forming in my stomach. "Huh, yeah, what's wrong? Did something happen back in the Border?"

"Of course not!" was the indignant reply, a smile spreading through my lips as I imagined his shocked expression. "Under my intense gaze, the Border has been quite safe. I was merely worried that you had been captured or taken by surprise by some enemies. It's been three hours since you came here for a change of attire."

"Three hours!?" I whirled towards Holmes and Mash. The girl looked away, her expression a little guilty. Holmes slid back his air and nodded.

"I saw that you were deep in thought and saw fit to let your mind wander. This is quite a stressful situation, spacing out would do you some good."

Except it didn't help at all…I looked away, feeling a frown on my face. I felt even more anxious now. "Where are we right now?"

Holmes hummed. "Just a block away from a park I have to say, hmm, yes, indeed!"

I looked at the greenery up front. Trees were spread out, showing the fields of grass. Squinting my eyes a little I saw a sign saying "St. Mary's Park" I let myself relax at the sight, feeling a little calm at seeing such a nice piece of nature. I looked down... and since when did I become such a nature enthusiast?

Breathing deeply I turned back to my watch. "We're looking into the beacon right now."

"What about the Ley-lines? Have you found anything!?"

"No, but we're hoping that if we find the beacon we can find some answers."

"Hrm…alright, alright. Do be careful Miss Ritsuka! You are first and foremost the most precious operative in our crew! Without you, I don't believe we can coordinate the Servants to help us with our mission!"

Gee, why don't you keep piling up the pressure. "Don't worry, this isn't my first time doing this Goldorf."

"Alright then! Oh…yes, I almost forgot. Miss da Vinci is currently looking into what happened during our entry into this world, leaving Mister Béchamel to continue with the repairs of the Border."

"Meuniere, don't start teasing him just because you're getting bored."

"Why I would never—" Goldorf's voice was loud and insulted, and U backed away a little at his reaction. "Hrmhrm…well as I already have done my task I shall leave you to it, so please be careful."

"Of course, over and out." I look back at Mash and Holmes and nodded at them. "Let's keep going."

We walked to the park; I really wanted to take a walk through it and neither Holmes nor Mash seemed to complain. Looking to my right I saw Mash smile as she took in the sight. I myself smiled, feeling the cool air and hearing the rustling of leaves. A couple of people sat in the grass with blankets and others were walking with their dogs, enjoying their time. Mash seemed focused on the woman walking with her dog. She turned her gaze at me, her eyes shining.

"We need to take Fou out for a walk sometime Sempai."

I raised an eyebrow, then an ugly snort escaped me. Mash's eyes narrowed a little, stepping towards me in worry. I waved her off and shook my head. I smiled at her.

"I agree, it just caught me off-guard, that's all."

"Why?"

"It just sounds so normal...it's been a long time since I've done anything normal or mundane."

Mash smiled and nodded a little, looking off towards the distance. "Yeah, everything we've been doing always seemed to have something grand to it, right?"

"Yup." We continued walking in silence. Mash still looked off to the distance, and I was gazing at her from the corner of my eyes to make sure she didn't trip and fall. The lavender haired girl slowed her pace a little, forcing Holmes and myself to match her stride.

"Sempai, look." My gaze shifted towards Mash, seeing her point at something and followed her extended finger. A bulletin board on the roof of a building was the image of a man in a white skin tight costume and a domino mask, giving a wide white smile towards the viewers. The image looked old and worn. My eyes darted down and saw the words of 'PROTECTORATE HEROES: ALWAYS KEEPING YOU SAFE'.

"Huh, I don't recognize that superhero…" I said, eyes narrowing as I tried to rack my memories from my comic book collection back…well, back in my old home now I guess. I doubted that I still had them, unless mom kept them save.

"Superheroes?" Mash asked stepping a little further ahead to get a better look at the billboard, I blink and felt my thoughts fade away as I focused on her. "I think I read a couple of books about some superheroes before you came Sempai, but I wouldn't really know much. I didn't read too many of them."

"Well, I can definitely say I don't recognize him, that's for sure…maybe a new character? But…it couldn't be, it's the eighties right? I have a lot of the issues that came out way back then."

Mash looked at me. "Maybe he wasn't famous enough Sempai."

I played with my hair a little, twirling my finger in one of my copper colored locks. "Hrm maybe…"

"Or maybe you are looking at this incorrectly Miss Ritsuka."

I stared at Holmes, raising an eyebrow as I saw him rubbing his jaw and arching his eyebrow sharply. "Incorrectly how?"

"Our original destination was towards the beginnings of the nineteen-eighties. But as we all clearly saw and felt, we stumbled onto some 'difficulties'. So the fact I am presenting is that we may have landed much later, for example, do take the state of the technology a little bit beyond the Park."

I raised an eyebrow and saw a light flickering up front near the exit of the park, noticing two digital billboards. It shifted from the commercials for drinks, to food advertisements, to trailers for movies or games. My eyes widened a little as I took in the videogame ones, their graphics looked somewhat up to date with some of the games I had back home. I bit my lip, turning back towards Holmes.

"How close are we to modern times?"

"If the papers are to be correct with their date it is June third, two-thousand and eleven."

"That's…" Mash swallowed deeply and I gnawed my lower lip.

"Thirty years...we are way off…"

"Indeed. Though I would suggest to do what we do best and adapt. The world hasn't ended just yet. So it would mean we still have time to make some sense out of this case, hmm?"

I nodded, looking at the people move on about with their daily lives. I felt a hand on my forearm and looked at Mash. The girl had a worried expression on her face.

Seems all I do is worry her…

I smiled at her and we continued walking. Once we got out of the park, I heard a stomach rumbling. I swiveled my head towards Mash and saw her face was red, and she looked down, then at me. She let out an 'eep', bowing her head as her face got even redder.

"How about we take a break. We can maybe find more information if we eat some lunch, hrm Miss Ritsuka?" Holmes suggested, motioning towards a small café that was a block away. I saw the sign flickering, blue, red, green. It was a bad combination of colors, but the sight of a café being nearby had my stomach rumbling too.

I nodded and looked atHolmes. "Do we have any American currency? I didn't grab anything from the cache…"

The detective stuck his hand in his back pocket and pulled out a black leather wallet. "A detective is always prepared, my dear."

"Then let's get something to eat." I walked forward towards our new destination. Getting closer to the café I started noticing the details of the place. The café was in between two larger buildings, making it appear smaller and more isolated than it really was. The walls were stylized with a pattern of red bricks and a couple of mirrors. Walking closer I saw the sign for the café say 'Reflection Café'. I blinked as something white caught my attention to the side and saw two white vans parked in front of the shop.

We passed in front of the vans, and my eyes flicked towards them when I saw the one closest to the entrance of the café dipped a little to the right. There are people in there…I looked back at Mash and Holmes as we continued to our destination. Entering the café I saw that the interior of the shop was deceptive to how it looked on the outside. It had a depth to it, despite how cluttered and 'retro' it looked.

There were some steps that needed to be climbed in order to enter the café proper. Inside, there were four L-shape sofas that clung to the right side wall, with a small round table in front of each of them. To the left was the counter, and a barista was preparing some coffee while another was pulling out some pastry for a couple. In front of the counter, there were eight stools, three of them occupied. On the far end of the café, there were three tables, with chairs. A man was sitting alone in there, a caged bird his only company.

I looked around when I felt a light flashing to my right. I saw the walls were all filled with reflective mirrors, all of them in different shapes: circular, oval, square, rectangle and more. So this is why it's called 'Reflection Café'. I walked forward, standing behind the couple as they got their pastry and coffee. The couple walked off to the side, giving me and my companions our turn.

"What can I do for you?" the female barista asked, her face tired, light skin pale, her uniform stained with bits of coffee on her white apron and shirt. I nodded and put on my biggest friendliest smile. The barista turned away from me before I could get a word out. "Elise, clean the table near the entrance! I told you to get to it!"

"Yeah, yeah…" The other barista, a black woman with her curly hair tied into a ponytail waved her off and stalked to follow her order. The woman attending me turned back to me, her expression still the same as before.

Why gee, how homely of you, no wonder this place looks so empty. "Good afternoon! Can I get some mocha and the…um, two rolls of cinnamons?" I asked as I looked at the pastry in the display.

"Miss Ritsuka, this is quite the nasty habit you've taken? It is quite unhealthy and will be most detrimental." I looked at Holmes, seeing his usual arching eyebrow.

"You're one to talk…" I said, as I saw him pull his pipe from his back pocket and take a drag from it. I stared at the barista from the corner of my eyes, expecting her to call out Holmes for smoking, but she didn't say anything, glaring at me and tapping her finger on the counter. Mash stepped forward.

"Do you have any tea?"

"What type of tea ma'—!"

BANG!

I jumped, my feet parting and landing in a ready stance. My eyes were flickering from left to right as I tensed. I whirled around to where the gunshot had come from. There was a 'THUD'. The scent of blood hit my nose like a slap to the face. I looked down at the body of the woman whose arm just exploded into a shower of blood and gore. Her face was ashen, eyes wide and shaky. Small trembling gasps escape her paling lips. She was bleeding profusely, a puddle of blood forming around her.

A crowd of footsteps reached my ears and I saw five men and two women run up the steps of the café. They were all armed, guns, knife, crowbars and other weapons holstered on their person. All of them were dressed in loose clothing, covered in sharp blades acting like armor and face paint. They looked like barbarians, their eyes wild and snarling. The man at the front pointed his gun in my direction and bared yellow teeth in a growl.

"Everyone get the fuck down! Or you're all getting bullets down your throats!"


	4. 1-4

_She's going to die!_ I was already moving towards the shot woman. The sensation of power coursed through my Mystic Code unconsciously, rotating its function towards the healing magecraft ingrained on it. My gaze completely focused on the injured woman, but she was obscured when one of the armed thugs got in my way and raised their gun. I stopped, taking a step back as the woman aimed her gun at my face.

"You wanna get shot!? Back the fuck off!"

Footsteps reached my ears and another person entered the cafe, rising up the steps. Much like the other thugs, the woman was dressed in red rags and bandages. Bristled bones and blades surrounded her torso, arms, legs, and face as if it were a mask. The woman's face wasn't a pretty one, not attractive nor overly ugly, but the red face paint and snarled she had made the walking thug look more like some barbarian warrior than anything.

Though I may be biased here… I've been around so many Servants for so long that I've kind of forgotten that not everyone is the epitome of beautiful or handsome.

The woman stopped beside the shot victim, raised her right hand and the puddle of blood rose into the air. A whimpering gasp went off behind me, and I narrowed my eyes at the cruel show. What type of magecraft is this? I didn't hear chanting or see any activating circuit…! The female victim gave a shuddering gasp as the blood from her exposed wound was dragged away from her.

I took a step forward until a hand grabbed my right forearm and dragged me back. I whirled around, fist ready and cocked back low, but I stopped when I saw the narrow eyes of Holmes looking down at me.

"Not the time for being reckless, Miss Ritsuka."

My lips pulled back, glaring at the Servant. My eyes darted towards the narrowed eyes of Mash, who returned my glance with one of her own. That made me let out a breath and cool down. I turned away from Holmes and backed into him seeing the bone wearing thugs point their weapons at the crowd more aggressively.

"Unless you wanna get shot, get the fuck down!" One of the thugs snarled again, swinging his gun from me to Holmes and then to the rest of the people in the café. I obeyed the gun-wielding man, stepping back with Holmes and kneeling down on the floor. I looked around at the kneeling crowd, seeing men tremble, women gasping and shaking. Holmes, Mash and I followed suit, kneeling down on the floor as the woman manipulating the blood looked at us with a sneer on her face.

"Now, I don't want to waste any time here, but this has to be done!" The blood suddenly turned into sharp blades, all of them pointing at us. "You fucking asshole! I know you're here! I can see your fucking bird right on the corner over there! Stand up like the big wannabe Casanova you think you are! You're gonna pay for taking from my territory, you fucking son of a bitch!"

She was angry, the blood in the air trembling with each word she spat. Her foot stomped down hard on the floor, an uncomfortable 'CRTRK' noise that made my lips pull back and eyes twitch. I heard a faint gasp, looking back slightly at the people behind me. My fist clenched as I took in everything around me.

Four women were present inside the café aside from myself and Mash. One of those woman was bleeding out and dying slowly, meaning that I was on the clock. My eyes took in the other four males; I couldn't see their expressions from my position and I didn't think fully turning towards them would make the thugs happy. I instead focused on the fact that one of the men had to be the blood-using woman's target due to the "Casanova" remark.

There was an option to fix the situation peacefully: I could sell out who I thought the target was and hope the thugs would leave peacefully. But that was a plan which could backfire: whomever this target was could potentially turn the tables and hold someone hostage. The way the woman spoke was as if the man in question was another criminal. And anyway, I wouldn't do something as low as that, even if they were a criminal. It was my responsibility to protect the innocent from these people and their plots.

Negotiation had to be put on the backburner for now. I had to calculate the situation from a combat point of view now.

Seven armed thugs; five men, and two women. One had magecraft that could be used as projectiles, and this magecraft had complete control over how the blood acted—maybe. In the end, it didn't matter whether or not the woman could make her blood lethal. Mash wasn't in her armor and wouldn't be capable of protecting the hostages.

In my adventures, I had been in very few situations where I was a hostage. In most of those cases where I was, I resolved the situation by force. Was a village being invaded by knights? Fix it through strategic traps and well-placed shots. An entire city encroached by eldritch monsters? Just fight, fight, fight until the population could escape to safety. Well, I didn't know if my perception of the situation was somewhat skewed now that I thought about it. But it was still the same concept: in order to save people a counterattack needed to be formed to get the hostages to safety.

My eyes saw beyond the thugs and the woman controlling the blood. Through the entrance of the café, I could see the white vans, but no one outside. They weren't covering their rear or the entrance of the café. They were either cocky, dumb, or didn't know what they were doing. For now, I would assume the worst possible outcome and and expect that they had more people waiting outside, possibly with more magic-using individuals amid the gunmen.

Focus Ritsuka! Focus! I turned my gaze away from the entrance and thugs. The blood user was glaring, eyes narrowed and a sneer on her face as she took a step forward. She was walking for Holmes. The male Servant immediately pushed me back with Mash, using his body as a shield. The thugs and woman stopped, aiming their guns and the weaponized blood at him. Holmes has probably already deduced every possible outcome for a fight in the café, but is waiting for my strategy. It's why he pulled me back, so I guess I better get to it then.

My eyes darted back to Holmes and then to the multiple mirrors on the walls. My eyes narrowing, I looked through the spot of the counter wall and Holmes' shoulder to see the steps the thugs were standing close by. There!

"You seem overly protective of little girls, like them a little young, you creep?" My head snapped towards the voice of the blood manipulating woman. Holmes' arms tensed, then a soft chuckle rang out from him.

"Sorry, but these two are under my protection. I can't allow them to get hurt you see." I felt like smacking Holmes, the smugness in his tone was just so palpable that it was a eye-rolling. The woman sneered down at us, her eyes flickering towards Mash and then to me.

"Oh, really asshole? Then you better stand by you—!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I jumped, a loud screech from behind bounced off the walls followed by a 'THUD'. I turned to see a male, the one who was with his girlfriend shot and writhing maybe six or seven feet away from his girlfriend. The blood-bending mage looked at the thugs and I saw that it was one of the women who had shot, her gun smoking.

"What the fuck was that!?" The woman who had fired shrunk as the blood manipulator whirled around for her. I turned, saw the girlfriend crying and shaking, her face pale and nearly catatonic. I looked at the barista who had been shot first, seeing how deathly still she was. I then let my gaze travelled towards the softly gasping boyfriend as blood pooled underneath him.

Well shit…this could've gone better. I smacked myself mentally, then winced when the sharp pain of my nails digging into my palms and teeth stabbing into my cheeks snapped me out of my daydream. I looked at Mash.

"Give me your jacket, lay low and wait for when I tell you to take everyone to safety." I turned away from her faint 'Yes, Sempai', a sound I was used to whenever I implemented my strategies. I focused on Holmes who tilted his head to look at me. "I need light, bright enough to blind those guys and bounced off the mirrors."

"Quite simple, my dear."

Seeing the white-gray jacket from the peripheral view of my eyes, I turned towards her and took it. I focused back on the woman in red and jagged teeth armor as I put on Mash's jacket, seeing her hands around the trigger happy woman's throat and gripping tightly. The others were focusing their weapons on us, their eyes on the gasping and dying boyfriend. I zipped the jacket up, pulled the hoodie over my head and extended my leg over towards the chair in front of me. I looked at Mash.

"I'm counting on you Mash."

She nodded. "Be careful Sempai."

I stared Holmes and noticed his metal bronze corset was back on. Extending from his back, and low to the floor so that the enemy wouldn't notice, was a single long, thin mechanical arm with a magnifying glass for a hand. The Servant detective smiled at me, a mischievous little thing, as he gestured towards all the mirrors in the restaurant.

"Shall we commence, Master?"

Now it was business time.

"Do it."

The magnifying glass from below shot a bright line of light. The thugs didn't even have time to react as the light hit the mirror. Then it bounced towards another reflective surface, then another, then another, then another. By the first second mark since the start of our operation, the entire restaurant was filled with light.

It was also filled with screams and shouts from both the hostages and criminals.

I had to squint my eyes despite the covering from the hoodie, and for a second marveled at the annoying tactic we used/ It was like being in traffic and seeing the reflection off a car with the bright, morning summer sun shining on them and nearly blinding someone. Only it was magnified by ten from the enclosed space and the super-powered light from Holmes.

I made my move, swiftly kicking the chair to my side so that it would tumble and fall. I rolled towards it, grabbed the upper and opposite lower leg and darted forward. Following the memorized path towards the enemy I rushed in, specifically towards the blood manipulator. I grit my teeth and slammed into her with all the force I could muster.

"Ghya —!" Her surprised shout was cut off by her tumbling into the ground, followed by my own tumble. I lost the hold over the table and let it fall, a loud 'KTANG' resounding through the blinding light.

Not a moment after the chair fell, the light disappeared. I blinked, trying to get rid of the burning myriad of colors appearing in my vision. Raising my hood back slightly I saw two of the enemy males stumbling back away from the stairs, the rest and the woman manipulating the blood in a heap of bodies down below. I grit my teeth, glaring at the still standing thugs. I moved, running towards the one to my right with my fist ready and—

"Bha—!?" I suddenly fell face forward, losing feeling in my left leg. Slamming down, I used my arms to protect my head, though my breath escaped me when my ribs hit the floor. Coughing slightly, I turned back to see my leg bleeding with a large and deep gash on my thighs. My ear picked up snarling and the wooden steps being slammed on. I turned back towards the stares and saw the blood manipulator on all fours rising up the steps. She stood, eyes squinted slightly and huffing through her nose.

"You're going to regret that."


	5. 1-5

The woman's hand twitched, blood twirling and sharpening, I was left staring at three blades pointing down at me. They aimed for my throat, my left lung, and my stomach. If they hit me, I would I die a slow and painful death, choking on my own blood and as well as the foreign one. Propping myself up to my elbows, I looked into her brown wide eyes.

She isn't going to hesitate in killing me.

I knew this for a fact, I understood this intently. But I wasn't worried.

"Hm, what a peculiar method to murder someone madam."

"Boss!" One of the thugs behind her screamed in warning, but it was far too late. The gunmen's leader whirled around, her blood creating an arc as it slashed in the direction of my Servant. The red blades whizzed quickly, but Holmes ducked under the attack, his movement slow. That's way too slow, her bone clad face was met by the clenched fist of the Servant. The woman's head snapped back, body staggering towards me. How is she staggering? She should be down for the count! I acted before she could fall fully, hopping onto my foot with my good leg, using my momentum and the woman's own to stop myself from falling and wrapping my left arm around her neck and the right one holding her head in place. I felt my arms brushed against the rough and hard exterior of the woman's armor and I frowned.

What's this thing made of? If it can tank a punch from Holmes and just leave you delirious then this stuff gotta be good…

Holmes had a bewildered expression on his face as he pulled his cane out and placed the tip of it on the groaning woman's head. His expression shifted towards a thoughtful one as he turned towards the enemies. The gunmen snarled, the two who hadn't fallen down the stairs quickly aimed their weapons. They moved forward, stepping towards Holmes. "Listen up you fucking asshol—!"

I reacted, activating my Mystic Code suit's healing function. I felt the wound on my leg closing, the muscle stitching itself back together. I winced at the pain I felt, the function of the suit was better suited to be used on Servants, not on normal human beings. Still, I focused. There was no time to waste.

I lunged forward, carrying the woman in my arms with me. The two thugs flinched, shifting their aim at me.

I didn't give them time to react. I pushed the captured woman towards the man to my right and continued with my momentum forward, knowing she would crash against him, leaving me with time to jump over the steps and try and get behind the rest of the enemy. The man instead dodged further right, closer to the counter and let his boss stumbled down the steps once more. The man aimed his gun at me.

No time to stop! Plan in my head changed immediately, I was already committed to my charge so I kept to it. I weaved to the left, the gun following and trying to center its aim on my head but staying behind by a few inches. I saw the man's index finger tensed and start to pull the trigger. I clenched my right fist. This was a technique I had studied under one of my Servants, Li Shuwen, I had taken all the training all my Servants could give me and used them to make a difference. Now I was going to use this technique to survive and save people.

No second strike!

I unleashed my fist, catching the thug right under the left side of his ribs. Spit flew from the man's mouth, his legs giving out and falling face first as I stepped around him. The hit was nowhere near the power that Li Shuwen could accomplish, hell it wasn't even powered. It was skill, technique, and training that let me know how to throw that punch and where to land it. Even then it was pure luck that I had accomplished such a great a hit with one single attack. Still, I swiveled on my feet, seeing the other gunman aiming his weapon at me and from the corner of my eyes I saw the other thugs coming up the steps. The gunman in front of me gritted his teeth, aiming for my chest.

WHAM!

The thug was sent flying over the steps, spit and blood flying off into the air. A dent of knuckles and fingers was pressed into his right cheek, mouth wide open and gun clattering in the floor right by Holmes' feet, his right arm outstretched. The thug disappear from my view when he descended only to be replaced by female and male armed thugs. They aimed at Holmes and me.

BANG!

The woman fired at me with her handgun, I stepped to my left, hopping away. I tensed, feeling something grazed my sides, but I didn't stop. I landed on a crouch as the female gun wielder shifted her aim to find me. I saw the woman's eyes wide behind her sharp armor mask, her hands trembling and her lips were moving saying something rapidly. I burst forward, not giving her an opportunity.

BANG! BANG!

I rolled to my sides, not even thinking about it as the woman had corrected her aiming. I got to my knees, the woman once more raised her gun at me. I stood, bringing my arms over my head and chest to protect the vital areas. "Ghu!" I gasped, feeling my right arm fall to my side in sharp pain. The smell of something metallic hit my nose. My eyes focused on the gun wielder, I saw that her finger was pressing the trigger.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

My vision went dark. Did I close my eyes? I haven't had such a reaction for a long time, the last time being when I stared down into the eyes of the being who burned down the history of mankind. That was the last time I had flinched, his gaze cursing me on the dead London. But after that I had promised myself not to close my eyes to any horror that stood before me.

So why did I? The movement of fabric alerted me that I hadn't closed them. The grunt of pain made me look up and meet the face of Holmes. His expression was crunched up, mouth opened as if the air had been knocked out him. But why? Did those bullets seriously hurt him!?

It was impossible. It was inconceivable. Unless those bullets were magical, it was impossible that Holmes was hurt. But if so, then the I had to be careful. I couldn't get shot.

My body moved, bursting forth from my kneeling position, sliding through Holmes parted legs. He didn't have his coat before…why did he re-summoned it? His coat hit my face as my chest and stomach scraped through the floor, the coat cleared from my vision and I saw the woman with the gun snarling. She aimed her gun at Holmes back, not seeing me. That's why! My eyes caught sight of the broken chair and I reacted, flourishing a twirled on the floor and kicking a piece of the leg of the chair, sending it flying towards the woman's face. I—

"GRK!" I flinched, immediately rolling to my left so I could relieve the pressure on my right shoulder. I pressed my hand on it and pulled back with a gasp as I saw blood. I was shot by a gun that made Holmes grunt in pain. It didn't make any sense whatsoever. If I had been shot by something that could hurt a Servant, then my arm should've been ripped from my body or I should be dead.

THUNK!

My eyes swiveled towards the woman who had shot me, seeing her on the floor with her hands on her face. The sound of hurried steps made me turn away from the woman and towards the remaining four thugs, aiming their weapons down at me and towards the side for Holmes. I rolled to my feet, I knew the action was irrelevant as from my position I couldn't dodge the bullets, but I still moved. I heard the sound of 'click' and understood the weapons were about to be discharged with bullets. My eyes caught the hostages, seeing them hurriedly run behind the clientele counter and through the emergency door. I looked up slightly, seeing Mash looking back at me.

Hostage saved, now I need to take care of the enemy. Can't die yet…not until I save the two that got shot. I can't die yet.

"HOLMES!" My cry was answered even before I got to the 'L' of his name. The scruff of my neck was grabbed and I was pulled to my feet, pushed back slightly.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

I whirled around, feeling my shoulders flinched with each consecutive gunshot. But I felt a smile tug at my lips as I saw Holmes. No longer did he had a single mechanical arm with a magnifying glass coming from the back of his metal corset, now he had eight mechanical arms in total. They moved at high-speeds, slapping or hitting the bullets out of the air. I felt confident, taking a step forward—

BANG!

I felt my blood run cold for a second, the noise ringing in my ears and adrenaline making my heart hammer against my chest. A bullet ricochets off the magnifying glass, my cheek stung and Holmes flinched turning his eyes towards me as he quickly reached for me. Why are you so slow…!? You should've taken them out already…!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The criminals capitalized on Holmes momentary weakness, firing at his open back. He let out a surprised yelp of pain, stumbling towards me and whirling around to defend himself and me. His mechanical arms moved—

SKRUTCH!

The sound of flesh being punctured by something ragged and sharp reached my ears. It wasn't pretty, it was like the sound of clothing being tore but wet and visceral. Holmes let out an uncharacteristic grunt escaped him as he stumbled further until he reached me. My eyes went for the Servant's back then towards the gunmen, seeing them relaxed their aims and step out of the way—

"Hey Hemorrhagia, you okay?" One of the male criminals asked the the woman I had pushed down the stairs twice by now. Hemorrhagia? The name fits…

"Shut the fuck up! I got a score to settle with that prick and the bitch!" Hemorrhagia snarled as she burst from up the steps and towards the kneeling Holmes. She formed a blood blade, pulling the sanguine liquid from the still barista woman on the floor. I tried to reached for, who? For the probably dead woman or my Servant?

Holmes will be fine! The Servant brought his mechanical arms up to defend himself. I need to focus…fuck, fuck, fuck, I made a massive mistake…I should've acted faste—

SKRITCH!

The sharp blood cut through Holmes artificial arms like a hot knife through butter and slashed down his left shoulder towards the right side of his hip. What…the…fuck!?

The Servant let out a scream, tumbling onto his back with a his eyes closed as blood fished out of his wound. Holmes spat blood, his white teeth now red as he let a fit of wet coughs. Hemorrhagia smirked, raising her right hand up, Holmes went rigid as his blood ripped from his open wound and moved around her. She looked away from Holmes and towards me.

"Now onto—what the fuck!? Why the fuck is the blood disappearing!?" The woman flinched, taking a step back and looking around as the gore began turning into golden particles. Holmes coughed, attempting to get up using his elbows to push himself up. His left arm turned golden and then gave away, disappearing from under him and sending back onto his back.

Holmes…no…! You're dying…!?

"Fuck! This asshole was just a projection!? Aim for the bitch! Put her down!" Hemorrhagia whirled towards me, I looked away from Holmes and took a step back as Behind the woman, I saw the thugs raise their guns at me. I took a step back, my eyes widened as I looked back at Holmes. His body was disappearing, turning into particles.

Holmes! Don't die!

The woman stepped in the view of my Servant, snarling as she took a step towards.

Holmes! I felt the connection between him and myself weaken. My heart felt as if stopped. Live. He couldn't die! Not like this! Live! We were supposed to save our world together! Live! We haven't even saved this one! He can't die just like that! I refused!

My right hand felt as if were on fire, the impulse to reach towards him overcame me. I threw my hand forward, my command spells burning red.

"LIVE!"

Hemorrhagia snorted. "You're a newbie aren't you, dumb bi—GRHAG!"

The woman stumbled down to the floor, her face scrunched up in pain as her left knee was bent awkwardly. A bronze magnifying retreated back to Holmes, who's body stopped collapsing and he quickly got to his knees. Three more mechanical arms came forth and pointed at the flinching gunmen.

"Allow me to enlightened you towards justice, my dears."

The line was corny, it made me squirm a little at the delivery, but it got the point across. Holmes magnifying glasses burst, sending fist size streams of hard light with an irritating noise that made me flinched. Even after some time of being with the Servant I still felt uncomfortable with the irritating noise. The light struck three out of the four thugs, the impact was hard enough that it made me wince as it reminded me of the time in France when a knight slammed the pole of his spear against my chest.

The three thugs went flying back, one of them flailed his limbs as he screamed and kicked the gunwoman on the face. The woman went down, her gun banging on the floor as the rest of the thugs crashed by the entrance.

Holmes got up, shakily, his transparent arm gaining a form slowly. He turned towards Hemorrhagia. I looked at her as well and saw the down woman looking spooked, her snarling lips pulled into pale line.

"It's over," I said, letting out a small sigh escape me. I turned towards Holmes when he took a step closer towards the down blood user. His magnifying glasses glowing behind him.

"Indeed, how about we tie our loose ends here, hmm?"

"Fuck you!" The woman snarled but didn't do anything as the brightness intensified.

"How uncouth. Farewell m'lady." The magnifying glass burst—

BAM!

Holmes fell to his knees, the mechanical arms collapsing from his back and the shattered remains of his magnifying glass hit the floor. I looked at him, my gaze seeing beyond him in the case that some other thug had gotten up, but all of them were out for the count. My gaze returned back to Holmes and saw the outline of his body turning into gold as he began to collapse again.

"Holmes!"

The Servant turned towards me, opened his mouth—KRSH—his words were left in his throat as a blood spike was pulled from his stomach. I felt my breath turn cold as Holmes collapsed down to the floor. His body becoming ghostly and particles flowing into the air.

Holmes just go into Spirit Form! Please!

His body disappears and my heart stop. Did he die? Were his injuries to critical that he didn't have time? What happened to him? I felt something on my right hand burned and I relaxed. The weight of Holmes existence as Servant was still tied to me. I didn't feel the release like it had happened in the past. I felt my body trembled, my legs nearly giving out.

A slash to my stomach had me cry out a gurgling scream and stumble back.

"Fucking bitch…I'm going to make you regret ruining my fucking day." I looked up to see Hemorrhagia walking towards as I was stumbling back, my feet tangling on something and I fell against the wall. Holding my bleeding shoulder and the shallow cut to my abdomen, my knees trembled as I slid down onto the floor I looked at the lifeless eyes of the boyfriend who had been shot minutes earlier. I looked up at the agitated and clearly angry Hemorrhagia. I took in her feature more clearly, noting her broken nose and the busted lip. Her snarling mouth showed off that she had loosed teeth and the sound of hissing escaped her mouth like a wet cat. "You fucking whore…You don't have your fucking projection anymore to get you by…"

That was she said, blood was pulled from the corpse between me and her, she created a single bladed edge. She was intent on killing me and being done with it. My eyes flickered towards the dead boyfriend and then towards the female barista, I focused my harsh glare on the woman once more.

"I don't need Holmes to take you down." The woman didn't respond as she made the blood burst forward and toward my head. My muscles clenched, ready to dive to my left and—

A burning bird came flying in, soaring through the air and smashing right into Hemorrhagia. The woman screeched as the fire burned her sides, her blood moving and coiling around her. The flaming bird let out a bright and burning explosion of flames, the woman was flung back, body in fire and screaming filling the abandoned café. I stared at the flaming bird flew in circles a couple of times, then doing sharp turns and—

My eyes widened as I read the lingering embers of the bird. 'TA DA THANK YOU, HONEY'.

"What…"

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" It turns away from the fading fire and sees Hemorrhagia shakily get to her feet. She turned towards me and I winced. Half her face was red and puffy, skin marred by burns and raw. The rest of her costume wasn't faring well either, not hiding much of her body. Though it wasn't a pretty sight either. The woman started stumbling towards me. "I'll fucking kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill—!"

FWOOM!

Something smalled passed right in front of me, blurring in movement and slamming into Hemorrhagia. It blasted her right into the far end wall. The woman's mouth was wide open, eyes rolled back, she slid down and fell on her bottom. She keel over, unmoving.

"Holmes…?" I turned, glad that my Servant managed to recuperate. I pulled back slightly when a knight approached me. The knight wore a distinctive silver-and-gold armor, "THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!" sounded off as he took steps towards me. In his hands was a greatsword, as large as the knight's own height and width. I caught sight of a hole in the tip of the blade and—

Is that a gun-blade…?

The knight reached me. I felt a tremor in my left arm.

"Are you okay?"

I nodded a little, it's a guy...my knight in shining armor apparently...his voice was soft and baritone, somewhat echoey. It made the tenseness in my shoulders give away. I still felt that tremor in my left arm still.

"A little bang-up…" I responded as I brought my left arm to my lap, pulling back the sleeve slightly to see my watch. I looked up as I saw the man smile and offered his left hand towards me.

"Come on then miss, let's patch you up."

It was instinctive, the man's friendly nature and firm stance brought confidence in him. It was like seeing Superman or Captain America, it was weird. I reached with my left hand and grasped his. I smile, feeling myself be pulled to my feet. My eyes flickered towards my watch when I saw a red flash.

Proximity to become 4 inches. Beginning analysis.

I blinked as I stared at the knight pulled me into a bridal carry and walked towards the entrance of the café. I blinked as I saw police officers, black armored uniform men, and costume people.

I looked at the man carrying me and my eyes widened.

He's the beacon!?


	6. 1-6

1.6

I fiddled a little with the bandages on my stomach, wincing and letting out little gasps of breath as I morbidly touched my wound. I stopped when the pain started to feel sharp and annoying, letting my hands drop to my side, resting on the back of the ambulance I was sitting on.

Murmuring and flashes made me looked at the crowd of people gathered around the small café. They were pointing at the shop, glancing at the hostages and costumed people there. They aimed their cameras at the commotion between the shivering rescued people and black geared up military personnel. I squinted my eyes when a flash went off near me; I glared at the person pointing their cellphone at me.

"Sempai!" I straightened up at the familiar call, turning and looking at a jacket-less Mash rushing to me. She skidded to a stop, looking at me worriedly. Her eyes watering a little, she shook her head, squaring her shoulders. "Are you okay?"

I shrugged, then cringed. I shouldn't do that. "None the worse for wear. It isn't the first time I've gotten beat up Mash."

"It doesn't make it right!"

"I know…but I did what I thought was best." She looked at me with narrowed eyes, shaking her head.

"You could've died...and I couldn't even do anything to protect you."

I bit my lips, looking away from the sad girl. Fuck me, I made her sad, what do I say...? My gaze fell towards the jacket I had on and I felt my eyebrows rise. Staring at the downtrodden girl, I leaned forward, cringing, and grabbed the jacket. I began to pull it off, letting out hisses and gasps as I did so.

"Sempai!" I ignored her as I pulled the torn and bloodied cloth off me. I showed it to her and smiled.

"You were there protecting me, Mash. Seriously, don't beat yourself over it."

Mash's eyes were wide as she looked at her ruined jacket. She bowed her head and nodded. "I just wished I could use my powers at will Sempai...then I could always be there to protect you..."

"Mash, I-!"

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

Mash whirled around, her body tense and arms spread in a defensive manner. I saw her right hand grab at an imaginary handle, before noticing her mistake and simply standing guard in front of me. The knight who had saved me walked forward and I let out a sigh of relief. Holy...hearing that godawful noise outside of Chaldea still got to me. Thanks, Camelot, thanks a lot.

The knight in silver and gold walked up to us, stopping as he regarded Mash. He nodded at her then looked at me.

"Are you okay, miss?"

I stared at him, noticing his armor and how different it looked from the ones I'd seen in ages long passed. The armor looked futuristic, resembling more of an action game character. I heard a cough and I looked at the golden helm of the knight hero. I felt my face burn a little.

"Sorry...huh, but yeah. I'm okay." The knight nodded. Mash looked at me, relaxing her pose, though still maintaining a wary look. What was up with her?

"That's good to hear. I heard from the people you saved on how you charged towards the Teeth. That was very courageous, though foolhardy."

I raised an eyebrow. "Charged towards the Teeth…?"

The knight's helm tilted left. "The Teeth, you know, the name of the group that Hemorrhagia belongs to. Are you sure you are okay?"

_What kind of name is the Teeth for a criminal group!? _I nodded, putting a hand on my head and feigning pain. "Yeah…I am, I just think I may have hit my head."

"Sempai!" Mash turned to me and started checking my head for any sign of injury. Oh Mash, always so reliable…though thinking like that made me feel shitty….

"How hard were you hit? If you're suffering a concussion then it would be best for the Medics to take you to the hospital."

"It's fine...it doesn't really hurt all that much. And anyway the medics are taking care of the two who got shot by the...um, Teeth.."

"Hrm." The knight stared at me intently. I felt a cold sweat roll down my back, lying with a straight face didn't alleviate the uncomfortable symptoms of my body getting nervous at being caught. "If that's the case I can take you to the hospital."

_Oh shit...he's onto me…! _

"It's not necessary! Really I don't want you wasting time on someone like me. You're already busy arresting all those thugs anyway."

"I've trained and taught my Wards and fellow heroes to handle a simple procedure. It would be quite embarrassing if they couldn't handle that as leader."

_So he's a leader...okay, gotta be careful…_ "Still I would feel bad if you did all that just for me."

"Hmph, I guess there's a first time for everything." I looked at him weirdly and the knight chuckle. "I guess you're a little old to have the reaction of 'I wanna have a cool buster gun-blade like Chevalier' or finding an excuse to swarm me. But it's surprising, most of the time when I offer to take a victim to the hospital or the P.R.T. Headquarters for a statement they are more than happy to accept. Hrm...do I make you uncomfortable?"

The knight, Chevalier I guess, looked straight at. I kept a cool exterior, but inside I was looking for a good response. _He's suspicious...he's finding almost all of my actions weird. And there's something else, he keeps looking at me as if he is suppose to see something but isn't. _

"No...you don't make me uncomfortable. You do look pretty cool." Mash gave me a look, then stepped towards me and grabbed my hand, squeezing. Yeah, I know Mash.

"Then you wouldn't mind a drive to the hospital so we can get that head of yours looked at." Chevalier said as he took a step forward. Mash tensed, stepping right in front of me. I squeezed her hand and she relaxed a little.

_He's adamant about taking me to the hospital, it isn't just because of my injuries...it's because he doesn't want to question me in a public place! If he takes me to the hospital I would be in a room by myself and he can ask all sort of questions that would definitely make me trip and reveal my hand..._

The knight extended his left gauntlet hand towards me, but Chevalier's attempts were halted. The gloved hands of a navy blue dressed medic wrapped around the hero's silver armor forearm. The ambulance medic had a scruffy beard, walked with a limp and shook his head.

"Please do not approach an injured person while wearing such an outfit. You could injure the victim further."

I blinked at the medic as Chevalier pulled back. I felt something connecting me to the man in blue. Along with his speech pattern…wait was this…!?

"My apologies, the miss told me her head was hurting and I was hoping to help." The knight turned fully towards the medic. "Are you okay? You seem to be limping a bit?"

"Indeed, one of those villains injured me some time ago. It still hurts." The medic turned towards me and winked. "From what I hear the Miss here was instrumental in helping the hostages escape."

Holmes! I felt elated to see my detective still alive and kicking. I bit my cheeks to stop myself from squealing and throwing a hug at the hurt Servant. Holmes approached the ambulance, getting up with difficulty.

"Yes, I can understand." He turned towards me and nodded. "Oh yes Miss, what's your name?"

"Fujimaru Ritsuka…" The knight hummed.

"Japanese huh…" He murmured and then looked at Mash. "And what's yours?"

"…Mash Kyrielight, Mister Chevalier."

"No need to be so formal miss Kyrielight." He turned back to me. "The reason I ask this, Miss is because you outed yourself as a…cape."

My eyebrows furrowed slightly at the way he said cape_…that word again…_ capes seemed to refer to either heroes or people with powers if I went along with the way Chevalier worded it. And then there was his hesitation when he said the word, as if he wasn't sure or doubtful about something. Even when I wasn't talking I was doing something out of the norm here, despite this World being filled with comic book like superheroes apparently. Still, I kept the information. I leaned forward, wincing as I thought of fishing for more information.

"So…what do I do?"

Chevalier seemed to relax, his armored form leaning back slightly as he nodded. "Become a Ward."

"A ward…?" Mash questioned looking at me.

Chevalier's helm tilted towards Mash, then back to me. He motioned for the shorter and young looking costumed people there. "Wards are children who triggered and have come to us in order to be heroes… I'm surprised you don't know this…"

I swallowed thickly. Well shit, of course, it would be weird if we didn't know about the Justice League or Avengers. I needed to come up with an answer. Maybe hide lies behind some truths: I could play the angle of Mash being a sheltered girl and how bad my concussion was—

"Sorry." Holmes appeared suddenly, placing a hand on my shoulder and looking at Chevalier. "But I need some time to make sure she's okay. Her friend can stay, but I believe you have some criminals to apprehend."

Chevalier armored form went rigid. "It will only take a moment medic…Joh—!"

"I understand you wish to have her join your force of heroes, but this girl is suffering a concussion." Holmes pulled me back, gesturing for Mash to get inside of the ambulance. "Please, allow for Miss Ritsuka to recuperate."

The silver and golden knight relaxed, looking at me. "Okay then, but please Miss Ritsuka, once you're okay, contact the P.R.T. so we can continue speaking about your options. Butcher XV will most likely take an interest in you for defeating a Teeth that went against his brand of justice."

"Okay…" Chevalier nodded and turned away. My gaze focused on two black body bags being pulled from the café. No…! I looked at the retreating knight. "Hey! H-Hey! Chevalier!"

The knight stopped turning his head to look at me. "What is it miss?"

I felt a cold feeling in my stomach, traced dry lips with my tongue. Holmes tightened his hold on me further. I winced, but still continued pushing forward. "Are…are the two who got shot...will they make it...?"

Chevalier looked at me, expressions hidden beneath his helm, then bowed his head. He turned and walked back towards me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"You tried your best, Miss..."

I looked at the floor, the air escaping through my nostrils cold and sharp. His armored hand felt heavy, crushing even. I felt my eyes sting, something trickling down my cheeks and a ragged breath tore through my chest. Fuck me, I had hoped that the body bags were some unique equipment to help injured people. But it was just like back in my World, the proof of corpses after a crime. I bit my lip and took a breath - death was something I had become used to seeing or being around . Enemies, allies, friends and innocents - I've seen them die in front of me in every manner. Death had become something usual to my life the day I had come to Chaldea.  
_  
But it still isn't easy to deal with. _

"Please, enough is enough Mister Chevalier...let me do my job." Holmes' voice sounded distant, annoyed as well.

"I...I apologize. Miss Fujimaru, should you wish to talk with me, please don't hesitate on doing so...and I'm sorry. But not all heroes can save everyone."

But it was my fault...! I should've acted faster...I should've ordered Holmes to attack from the get go...I should've defeated them all easily and saved them...

I felt as I was pulled into the ambulance and placed in a corner. I had been too slow, that was the problem, I acted way too slow. I shouldn't have come up with some elaborate plan to defeat those criminals, I should've rushed in.  
_  
But was it really my fault…I mean…I was caught off guard…so I tried my best… _

The thoughts alleviated the pressure in my chest slightly, giving me the boost to look up at the worried Mash. Yeah, it wasn't my fault, I couldn't do anything because it was an ambush. I couldn't save those two because if I did then things would've gotten worse, maybe other civilians or heaven forbid Mash would've gotten hurt or worse. So I made the right choice, it wasn't—  
_  
Be brave and be responsible when you face the world, Ritsuka-chan._

The crushing guilt returned and I bit my lips. Who had said those words to me once? Had it been da Vinci before the situation with the Lostbelts had occurred? Had it been Holmes? Had it been one of the many Servants or historical figures I had run into during my travels?  
Or had it been the good Doctor?

_…or even before that, before my days with Chaldea…?_

To be brave is to accept your faults. To bear those responsibilities is to carry the consequences of one's actions. Lying to myself was neither. I had to take this failure with me, I had to carry it with me so that this negligence of mine wouldn't happen again.

I would carry the guilt with me like I had done to everyone who had died under my watch. It was my resp-

"Gyoagh!" I jumped, then I felt the air escape my lungs as I stretched my injured stomach too far and fell on my back.

"Sempai!" Feeling hands around my shoulder and pushing me up, I opened my eyes, staring at the purple gaze of Mash. I looked beyond her and saw the still disguised Holmes, holding onto a syringe. I blinked, then felt a sting on my neck. I slapped a hand on the spot where I was punctured, my eyes widening.

"Holmes!"

"Not to worry Miss Ritsuka, the anesthetic I have administered is my own personal concoction, and has been calibrated to a very precise level." The smug Servant had the gall to smirk as he waved the syringe at me. "Since we have spent quite a while together and seeing how tolerant your body has become, I have arrived at the conclusion that this mixture of mine won't be harmful, and it won't knock you out for another couple of minutes. That gives me the necessary time to expose my findings during this encounter and the beacon!"

This asshole! I watched as he turned towards the driver's seat, sitting down and checking the ignition key. "Why drug me then!?"

He turned towards me, the stranger's face giving a very Holmes expression with his arching brow. "Drowning in regrets isn't a healthy thing to do Miss Ritsuka. Miss Mash, please shut the back doors, I wouldn't want the two of you to get further injured as it is."

I'm not drowning in regrets, I'm just taking responsibility for my fuck up! I felt Mash's hold on me tighten, before sighing. "Are you planning on driving us through the streets like in those action books?"

"Haha, indeed, we must get to the Shadow Border! I suspect that there will be rather dreadful information waiting for us there. Like an explanation for my poor performance…"

My anger washed away at that, but was briefly rekindled when Holmes stomped the accelerator, jerking me backwards. I heard a muffled 'thud' and a squeal from behind me; looking back I saw Mash leaning against the closed door, with an annoyed look. It was a little amusing - Holmes could at times be an ass, but this wasn't one of them. I whirled around back to Holmes just as he turned on the sirens.

I looked up and realized what he was doing. "You think they will come after us…?"

"The medics are bound to realize that all of them are present, and the good Sir Chevalier seemed to have a keen mind. This should make them hesitate and wonder about your state for a minute or two." He seemed focused on his driving, swerving left and right to avoid incoming vehicles. "Miss Mash, when that knight approached Miss Ritsuka, did you feel something off?"

"Off…?" Mash frowned, her fist clenching.

"Huh…Yeah, I felt as if an enemy was approaching, a big one. But it wasn't that…it felt more like a sensation, like when King Gilgamesh got in one of his moods or when Kiara-san started tempting Chaldea staff members. But it doesn't make any sense…Mister Chevalier seemed so nice…"

"A very good assessment Miss Mash. It is indeed a feeling of flight or fight that overcame you, just as it overcame me. It was the sensation of an overwhelming weight approaching and waiting to suffocate you. All the while looking at you with pity, am I correct?"

"Whoa, Mister Sherlock, how did you know all of that!?" Mash astonished voice seemed to amuse Holmes as he started laughing.

"Indeed, indeed, as a detective I had to take into account every little detail, and your actions were the one thing that compelled me to get close." His posture got tense. "And I managed to confirm that indeed, the knight isn't the beacon."

"What…then what is it?" I leaned forward and I felt Holmes' eyes on me through the rear-window.

"His left gauntlet has exactly one centimeter of thicker plating than his right gauntlet. His fingers each carry enough space to allow the hero to punch his targets with more force due to the plating and padding on his left hand. This brings us to the fact that said armored hand has more protection, making his finger much more difficult to flex or bend. However, his right ring finger is the one which made the least movement, even less than the one which had an extra layer of protection over it. What am I trying to say with this you may ask? It is simple, the beacon we followed was not in fact a person but an object. More specifically, a ring."

"So a ring is the beacon…?" I turned towards Mash and the girl nodded with a curious look.

"It's a little surprising…but, does that mean that…" Mash's face turned red a little. "A wedding ring was our beacon…that seems rather…huh…"

"Romantic, yes indeed, it almost symbolizes the union between Chaldea and this ring. Does it not? It began with something like this and it seems that it is still going. After all, you have already faced a foe whose power derived from the utilization of incredibly powerful rings, no? I still remember that dreadful band of light up in the sky as well."

I felt a shiver crawl up my spine. _He couldn't mean…no….this has to be a bad joke…_

"Holmes…what do you mean…? So the ring is the beacon but…"

"Come Miss Ritsuka, you already know the answer to this fundamental truth. You are simply denying it, not allowing yourself to see the answer before you." The disguised Holmes looked at me. "Simply look at Miss Mash and accept the truth just as she has."

My body trembled. Something trailed down my face, cold and wet. I swallowed and nearly gagged at how dry my mouth was. I looked at Mash and saw her, pale, shaking and staring at the floor. Her lips were parted as she took ragged breaths. She looked up, clenching her fist.

"…that's why…that's why it felt so familiar…why I felt like I needed to protect Sempai…because…"

"Goetia…" The cursed name left my lips before I could even stop myself. I felt my body go rigid. The imposing image of the Beast that burned the history of man. I felt my teeth clench tightly, my gums hurting from the pressure. "He's back…!?"

"I believe he is a prime suspect for why the Wizard Marshall sent us here. This Beast who possessed the power to be called almighty and achieved absolute victory was supposedly defeated by the efforts of the late Romani Archaman. But I must reiterate that this foe could've been called almighty at one point, so what is to say he didn't escape the jaws of defeat and has started planning his vengeance. This a mere theory, but the discovery of what the beacon really is places the Demon God as our first and only suspect for now."

"But…" Mash voice trembled. "We won…"

"No…that bastard can't make the Doctor's sacrifice be for nothing…!" I glared at the driving Servant, I opened my mouth—oh, whoa, everything feels so…so heavy…

….

….

…

…

…  
"Yes, now go. I must make sure those heroes can't find the route to where the Border was disposed of."

"What…?" I found I was laying on the ambulance floor on my back. I tried to sit up but then flinched back as a sharp hot pain erupted from my stomach. Mash turned towards me, putting her left arm around my shoulder to steady me. She had a worried look, her eyes darting from mine to Holmes.

"Ah, you have awakened? My, my, your tolerance for drugs is quite strong I have to admit." He tried to stand up, but collapsed back into the driver's seat. He let a shaky breath escape him. "It seems I'll have to stay seated for a while longer. But my superb driving skills should let me escape the heroes' wrath!"

"Mister Sherlock you can't force yourself like that! You're hurt!"

Holmes snorted, his shoulders began to shake as he laughed. "Oh please Miss Mash, it is I, the great detective! Worry not for measly injuries such as these!" He turned his head towards us and smiled. "Now get going, it is my belief that the vibrations in your watch aren't because the beacon is close anymore."

I looked at my watch sluggishly, seeing the light blink blue. My eyebrows raised up as I noticed the number of missed calls. My gaze shifted back to Holmes. "What are you...doing…?"

"Ah yes, you must've listen to small snippets of my plan. It is quite simple Miss Ritsuka. I shall use myself as bait and drive the ambulance some distance away, then enter spirit form to return here and save strength. I suspect the heroes we left behind aren't amused with our antics." He frowned a little. "And we don't have the time to be dealing with the politics of this world. You must returned to the Border and deliver this revelation post haste."

I looked at Holmes, clenching my fist and nodding. I pointed at him and glared. "Come back…I already failed back at the café…I won't lose you too."

I felt the hold Mash had over me tighten and Holmes nodded. "Don't worry, now get going."

Mash helped me get to my feet. I stumbled a little but she kept me steady. Helping me to the back of the ambulance, she opened the doors, pushing them wide and jumping down. She whirled around, offering her hand and I accepted it, being careful as I got off the ambulance. I bent a little as I landed, letting out a gasp, but stayed on my feet even as Mash was over me and steadying me. I nodded at her and she slowly stepped away from me, closing the doors of the ambulance—

"Be careful Mister Sherlock! Sempai gave you a very important order!"

"Of course, I am not one to disobey my Master."

I finally heard the door close with a muffled thud and the ambulance reversing back and out of the alleyway. I looked up just in time to see the vehicle disappear around the corner. Mash went back to me and started helping me move. I looked around and noted where we were.

We were close to the sewer passage. Mash half carried and half dragged me towards the pier where she jumped back an—not again…

"Miss Kyrielight! What on earth happened to Miss Fujimaru!?" It was the loud voice of Goldolf that made me cringe and open my eyes slightly. I looked as the blonde heavyset man and Meuniere jogged towards me. Goldolf reached me, pulled me away from Mash's grip and carried me in his arms.

"There were enemies outside!?" Meuniere questioned as he looked at my injuries. "We didn't pick anything up…?"

"Yes, we were caught off guard." Mash responded distractedly, and I saw her look of worry. I attempted to put on a smile but everything felt so heavy.

"Where's Holmes?" Meuniere questioned.

"He's—."

….

….

"—I see, this is indeed the worst case scenario. And with the revelation of what the beacon is…"

Da Vinci…? When did she get here…?

I opened my eyes and closed them immediately upon seeing the lights of the medical bay, burning bright. I tilted my head to the side, opening my eyes into slits. Everyone was present. I looked around, but didn't find Holmes. Instead I focused on da Vinci. I needed answers damnit…before I go under again…

"Da Vinci…" My voice came out low and mumbling. My tongue felt so heavy. "Da Vinci…! Da Vinci!"

"Sempai!"

"What!? Miss Fujimaru is awake after taking something mixed by Mister Holmes!? Incredible!"

"Well that's Ritsuka for you."

"Ritsuka-chan?" My eyes snapped open, staring at the young face of da Vinci. "You need to rest, don't fi—!"

"N-No…!" Fuck me and fuck my tongue. It was getting annoying to be tripping all over the damn thing. "W-what's happening…? Why…why did Holmes get hurt…why couldn't we beat them…"

Da Vinci nodded, seeming to comprehend my rambling. She took my left hand with hers, and the feeling of her metallic gauntlet made me gasp at the hard edges and coldness.

"We underestimated the situation badly. When we approached the wall that kept the world hostage, we took what happened to the Servants as an attack. In a way it was…but it was even worse than what we could've thought."

"G-Goetia…!"

"Maybe it was that foul Beast, maybe it wasn't. But I'm praying that it is him, because at least we know how to handle him. But this situation is bad Ritsuka-chan, very bad. I made a mistake in my calculations when I sent you off and saw the slight differences through the scanners as something that I didn't need to worry about. And we are in a worse position because I didn't call you three back."

"What do you…?"

"Ritsuka-chan, there's no mana in the air. I've checked four times since you and dear Mash arrived. I fixed the scanner into a state that was passable for me, and the truth that stared me in the face made me realize how complacent and arrogant I was. What's in the air currently are wavelengths sending data back and forth, and it's operating by the rules of the Second Magic."

"What!?" Goldolf loud voice made me flinched. "How could you say something so ludicrous and—!"

"And!" Da Vinci stared back, narrowing her eyes at a blurry figure. She looked back at me. "And I believe that these wavelengths are what's suppressing the world and what most assuredly has corrupted our cores. These waves of data that acted when we passed through that dimensional wall have done something similar to the Chaos Tide, the black ocean of Tiamat, but instead of corrupting Servants into serving her or altering personalities it does something else. Corrupting data, analyzing the very fact of our existence and degrading our Mystery, it reduced us—!"

I felt sharp pain on my hand and I gasped, flickering my eyes open to see da Vinci's face still close to mine. I felt asleep again…!

"It reduced us," Da Vinci started again. "From beings who can accomplish the impossible to just very strong familiars. And without backing of the World, we are in an incredibly precarious state. Ritsuka-chan, I can't find any Ley-lines through the sensors because of the wavelengths…this means that we can only rely on the last few reserves that are stored within the Shadow Border."

"T-then…lets hold back…for now…until we can figure…something out…"

"Ritsuka-chan…you have two active Servants that are in need of mana to operate right now. The other Servants stored within the Chaldea's Spiritual Foundation Graph are also in need of mana. Pulling back and observing the situation isn't an option. We have the clock ticking down on us, and it's doing it fast Ritsuka-chan. When the timer hits zero, Chaldea will become defunct."

I felt my chest tighten, my eyelids closing. I opened my mouth, my tongue barely getting up. Screw you Holmes! Why did you think drugging me was even a good idea…!? Still, I forced my mouth to work despite everything being black and everything sounding so distant.

"How…long…?"

"Before I become a dysfunctional meat puppet, Holmes disappears and the other Servants follow suit? Nine days, at best."

_Nine…days…what…the…_

My thoughts drifted into oblivion.


	7. 1x Interlude 1

Legend was on all fours, his knees digging against the rubble he was forced into. He was surrounded by dark walls, with a bluish light illuminating him. He pushed himself up, body shaking, groaning with clenched teeth. His white and blue outfit was painted red, his heroic suit ripped and torn. His body started lighting up, turning into pure white energy—until it fizzled out and a fit of coughs escaped him, his body still broken and bloodied. His efforts to enter his breaker state seemed fruitless, even though the light around him intensified.

He doubled over, barely managing to get to his feet, but fell backward, his back impacting the wall behind him as he slid onto his bottom. He breathed hard, his gaze focusing on his right knee, and he saw that the bone was peeking out, snapped and protruding through the flesh.

Footsteps came from the distance and he flinched. He raised a hand and fired multiple blasts of powerful lights, their effects showing in the destruction of the small room he was trapped in as it burned, froze, electrified, vaporized, melted and pushed. The light extended beyond him, covering everything in a bright flash. Noise filled existence until the flash faded, showing Legend.

The hero still had his arm stretched out, pointing at the approaching footsteps. The man let his hand fall to his lap as the figure dressed in green robes walked right in front of him.

"You're not going to keep fighting?" A distorted voice came from the figure in green. Legend spat a glob of blood on the floor beside him. He looked at the robed female, snarling.

"Th-There's no point...I know when I've lost…"

"So you're giving up? How disappointing."

"I-I know that keeping at this fight is going to get more people killed…" He coughed and spat more blood. "S-So j-just end it….end it already...get on with it and leave my city!"

The figure in the green robe shook, then let out a happy chuckle.

"Oh Legend! Even when you're losing you always find a way to win! That's what I like so much about you...you're like a fairytale hero, always accomplishing the impossible. I was going to absolutely destroy the entirety of New York, but your conviction has moved the faerie queen. After taking your life, the twice named city shall forever be spared of my wrath. Congratulations O Light One, for victory is yours."

Legend stared at the female in disbelief, then bowed his head.

"...thank you...Glaistig Uaine."

"Of course." She took a step towards him then turned and looked up at the camera watching the scene. She raised her hand, frowning a little. "This is a private moment between equals, begone."

And the footage crackled in static. Chevalier put down the tablet in his hands, placing it down beside his seat. He looked around the garage of the P.R.T. headquarters, his heavy armor weighing down on him more than usual after subjecting himself again to that very same video.

Need to remind myself, of the legacy I can't fail.

Legend had been the bravest and the most iconic of all the heroes who had ever lived. Losing him was a major blow for the hero community, but it had been an inspiring one. Even after his death, that very video the wretched faerie queen had tried to silence had gotten out and invigorated heroes throughout the world.

It had shown that bravery could in fact make a change in a world as chaotic as this one.

With the image of the last moments of the hero who had inspired him to become the man he was today still fresh in his mind, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and let the world around him disappear. Today had been a typical day for the most part. The call reporting gunshots had the P.R.T. moving in alongside Ursa Aurora. When the call had been followed by a second from a different person reporting about the Butcher being in town, Flechette, Jouster and himself mobilized quickly.

He held the two Wards in high regard, understanding that they could handle themselves and help battle the horrifying walking monster that was Butcher XV. It was fortunate that the Butcher being there was all a lie, and that only two people had died during the entire fiasco this afternoon.

It was cynical to think of things like that, but when dealing with the Teeth, there tended to be more bodies. Still, Hemorrhagia was caught along with her flunkies, who were now detained in a cell below the headquarters. As it should be, Legend had sacrificed his life to protect this city and he would make sure to keep it safe just like the man would've wanted.

Though he couldn't take all the credit when it was thanks to that girl, Ritsuka Fujimaru, that members of the Teeth had been captured.

The red-haired girl could project a man with light powers, a man she named after Sherlock Holmes if the thug that had been interrogated was to be believed. It was difficult to believe that as Chevalier had failed to see any vision of her trigger event or aspect of her power. But it was confirmed by multiple accounts from hostages of a thin man using light powers and moving quickly to fight the thugs, meaning that the criminal had told the truth.

Which made it all the more confusing that he had failed to see the shadows of that girl.

VROOM! VROOM!

He turned his armored head to see the subway entrance opening as P.R.T. personnel allowed the two young heroes he was waiting for in. Riding twin black armored motorcycles and swerving to a stop in front of him, he gave a look towards Flechette and Jouster. He narrowed his eyes as the image of Flechette was replaced with railroad tracks and an incoming train, with blood and gore. He tore his eyes away from the female hero, but his gaze was caught on Jouster, his vision being filled with elements and phenomena twisting into a single point. He let out a breath as the image subsided.

Yeah...just like that. He stood up, grunting a little as he stretched his back. He walked towards the Wards. "Welcome back, you didn't run into any problems I hope."

"It was a pretty boring cat and mouse game to be honest." Flechette responded with a frustrated sighed. He nodded, looking at the younger heroes.

"You found our missing people and the ambulance they stole?"

"We found the ambulance, but nothing else, unfortunately." Jouster said, his voice frustrated as he crossed his arms over his stylized medieval armor. The lance he used was holstered on his back, the handle folded down so that it didn't get in the way of the young hero's head movement.

"The ambulance was abandoned right in the middle of the street near where the vehicle left." Flechette elaborated as she stretched her back a little, making her skintight purple suit groan with her movement. "Hrm, no one saw anyone dismount the vehicle and well...yeah, we don't know where they could've gone to."

Chevalier outwardly didn't react, but inside he felt a little disappointment. That girl appeared to have a useful power, and if she could create imaginary people that had powers then she would've been a great asset for the Protectorate. Though he felt more disappointed that he may have spooked her off. Not like it mattered right now, while he felt a little down at having potentially scared away someone with his question, he wondered what her powers were.

Hmm, most likely minion creation, naming them after characters from books maybe, and perhaps of people she had seen, like the medic from the ambulance.

He looked at both Wards and nodded to them. "What about Felix Swoop? Did you manage to find him?"

"Unfortunately he's not in his usual nests," Jouster answered, sighing. "Despite how greedy he's been getting lately, he hasn't been slipping with his running away tactics."

"But he is screwing up his relationship with the other Adepts though." Flechette looked at Chevalier. "Our contacts have been saying that the tier three members aren't doing all that hot with Epoch and the tier fours, who Swoop screwed over when he took that territory from Hemorrhagia."

He hummed, crossing his arms as he regarded the two Wards. "Meaning that we'll have to worry about a falling out between the Adepts. And with this whole business with the Teeth today, we'll have to be careful that Butcher XV doesn't rear his head in New York."

The two young heroes shuddered, nodding as they looked at each other. Jouster looked at their superior and shook his head. "Seriously, why can't we make an exception and take more force with him?"

"Because no one would win that situation, Jouster." Chevalier answered evenly and the young hero bowed his head. He sighed and relaxed. "In any case, good job. You know what Miss Fujimaru looks like right?"

"Yeah." Jouster nodded plainly.

Flechette took out her phone, flipping it to reveal the image of the girl in question. It was a photo taken without her noticing, and while it may have seemed wrong at the time, it proved useful.

"She seemed a little defensive...and a little close with that other girl…" Her words were murmurs but Chevalier still read her lips clearly, noticing the disappointment in her features. He snorted a little at that. _To be young again…_

"Then keep an eye on the streets while you're out on patrol. If you see her, try to persuade her to meet with us. We don't want the Butcher getting his hands on her. Okay?"

"Yeah!" both answered at the same time. He nodded to them and they walked off, talking about the day's event. He watched them go, the worry for the redhead fading just like the Wards did from his vision. He nodded, walking in the direction of his 'office' as he held onto his left gauntlet.

The situation in New York was stable for now; criminal activity was low and both the P.R.T. and the heroes were doing a fine job in keeping it that way. There were the usual hiccups like today's situation, but it was more preferable to have hiccups than catastrophes. His footsteps felt heavy as he thought of Florida, the state where Leviathan had hit barely a month ago.

It had been hit hard, the Endbringer's attack sinking the entirety of Miami and nearly making a strafing run straight for Pompano Beach in one of its rare shows of power. It was fortunate that Armsmaster's strategy had succeeded in driving it off, else Florida would be worsed off. Many counted that as a victory, Armsmaster himself feeling quite proud of his accomplishment by what Hannah told him. The triumph over the aquatic monster seemed to get to his head and he has been becoming quite insufferanle down in Brockton Bay.

_You've earned your victory old friend...but it isn't the time to get complacent Colin, you know this…'_He didn't count it as a victory; of course he couldn't. He had seen heroes and villains alike die by the dozens under the heel of the Endbringer, and all they had managed to do was drive it off. It wasn't satisfying and it wasn't right. He stopped, noticing the fading lights of the afternoon sky. The sun in the distance was nothing but a line now, the orange giving way for the blackness of the night and the lights of the New York nightlife. He looked at a digital billboard, showing the bright and dazzling smile of Legend.

_How would things have been with you around, heh?_

He reached his office, sat on his chair and looked at the bare walls surrounding him. He began taking pieces of his armor off, placing them on his desk, feeling his body being relieved of a great weight. He took the gauntlets off and finally pulled the helmet of his suit off,placing it beside the rest of his let out a breath, rubbing his drenched forehead and hair, and his eyes caught sight of the only piece with color and life in the office and he frowned. He leaned forward and grabbed it, making sure to be gentle and careful with it.

He looked at the photo frame and a wave of nostalgia mixed with bitterness overwhelmed him. The image that stared back at him was of his wife and himself both giving a smile towards the camera. He placed the photo back on the spot where it had been and frowned.__

_How long has it been since we've done anything together, Hannah?  
_  
He started playing with the ring on his left hand. Spinning the wedding band, feeling it pull at his skin. He stopped as he looked at the golden ring, and clicking his tongue, he started to pull it off-

_Keep it on._

He stopped his actions and let his hands drop, turning to look at the photo. He closed his eyes and reminisced about happier times. Looking for strength in them so that he could keep going forward.

_Need to be brave...need to be brave if I want a better tomorrow...and I need to be brave so I don't lose you...Hannah..._


	8. 2-1

2.1

The sky was gray, clouds swirling. A beautiful song was playing, the soothing lullaby being carried through the air. The image fizzled a little as it displaced downwards to the London streets, black rotted railing obscuring the bottom as the scenery wobbled down and up. A messy apartment came into view, stopping in front of a female chest. Moving up it showed a young Asian girl in her late teens dressed in a dark grey turtleneck. She looked into the camera, her red hair flowing down, her light brown eyes looking bright as she bit her lips. She let a shaky smile spread on her lips, took a deep breath, pulled her right hand back and waved.

"H-Hi…!" She blinked and clicked her tongue while glancing away. "I'm so dumb…"

She looked back, shaking.

"Um, my name is G-G-Gudako! I…I know it sounds weird but it's a whole lot better than my real name. But it's the name I want people to remember me by…uh…" She flinched and the image started shaking, a loud noise of metal clacking against wood. All that was on view was a grey cracked wall accompanied by the lullaby from earlier. Everything moved and showed Gudako looking a little disheveled and a little teary eyed, her left arm holding something white. "I found it! I…I…it would suck if I had lost it…uh…"

She looked down at herself and brought a canvas the size of her torso up, showing it off while holding uncomfortably two brushes. She held the canvas by her hip, bent over and everything shifted left and right, CLACK, and the movement stilled. She pulled back, turning away and grabbed a bag. She hefted it over her right shoulder and faced the image, reaching for it and it rose up. She smiled shakily, sniffing a little.

"I'm going to show that I'm really talented and prove how good I really am!" She let out a shaky breath and she looked up, pressing something.

Everything fizzled, black and white static overcoming the image. Then the static gave way, showing a park filled with people. Men, women, and children were all looking up, smiling and pointing. The lullaby increased in volume. The image shifted once more to show the sweaty face of Gudako. Looking out of breath, she looked down and smiled.

"I'm going to paint her! I'll be the first and I'll show you, mom, that what I'm doing isn't stupid!"

The image whirled around, pointing at the sky.

A woman stood in the air, a song drifting in the breeze as she spread her arms and the innumerable wings around her. The countless number of wings fanned out from her body, some fanning out from other wings showing off her white cold skin and giant body. The woman was fifteen-feet tall, her white long hair flowing behind at just the same length.

She continued singing as the view moved from her and showed Gudako, who smiled. She looked to her left and right, then her expression perked up as she moved hurriedly. Gudako was cast in shadows, leaves and branches appearing above her. She sat down, leaning against the tree trunk, put the canvas in her thighs and adjusted the image to focus on her.

"This is great...I can paint...!?" A girl in a green hooded shroud walked around the tree and kicked her knees. She flinched and looked at the girl. "Hey!"

The girl remained silent, turning her hooded head towards Gudako. She flinched, squirming closer to the image.

"Uh, hey listen...I don't want any trouble, I'm sorry for getting in your wa...!"

"Do you hear the faeries singing?" Her voice caused the image to waver, sounding distant and echoey.

"What?" Gudako stopped, looking up at the shrouded girl.

"Godmother is going to make the faeries come out!"

"What are you...!" Her words were cut as everything trembled and Gudako fell on her back. A cloud of dust obscured Gudako's body and the scene. Despite nothing appearing, there was sound. The visceral and wet screaming of men, women, and children. There was a sound of flesh hitting flesh, of ripping and tearing.

And all along the same lullaby song still went on.

The image fizzled, static once more returning. The fizzling went away, revealing Gudako.

Her eyes were wide, tears streaming down her face. Blood trickled down her nose and mouth. Her auburn hair was messy and matted dark red. She looked at the image, trying to reach with a bloody stump that fell on the bloodied grass floor. She laid unmoving as the blood flowing from her torn stomach pooled around her exposed guts.

All the while the song increased in tempo as distant screaming and explosions went off.

The video went black after that and I pulled down the tablet, placing it by my thighs and let out a sigh. I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a breath. I shook my head and leaned back, feeling the metal railings behind me groan in protest. I looked up at the blue sky and closed my eyes.  
_  
And there's four of those things...holy shit. Endbringers sure doesn't feel like a corny name when seeing the damage those things leave behind._

"Hrm is something the matter Miss Fujimaru?"

I looked up, seeing the heavy set figure of Goldolf. For once he wasn't dressed in his aristocratic suit, forced to wear a simple sweater with a tie. The man let out a breath, using a napkin to dry the sweat rolling off his face. He put his elaborate doily away and took a drink from his piña colada. I sighed at the glutton mage, glaring at his sticky finger. Did he eat my lunch!?

I pushed myself up, using the railing behind me to keep steady. I bent over—

"Urgh…!"

"Sempai!"

"I'm fine Mash!" Even as I said this I felt hands on my shoulder and arms helping me keep my balance. I looked up and saw the girl with a worried look in her expression. She was dressed as usual, a new jacket replacing the one from two days ago. She was wearing black gloves, boots with metal plating on the soles and a round backpack with a cross and encryption adorning the front.

"Don't push yourself so much!"

I winced at the scolding and nodded. "Sorry, sorry, okay?"

"As long as you don't hurt yourself, Sempai."

"Indeed Miss Fujimaru—!" Goldolf stopped to take another sip of his drink, he let out a satisfied sigh and shook the beverage with a grin. "You shouldn't be pushing yourself to the breaking point."

"You seem to be doing that with everything you've eaten Goldolf," I said, watching him freeze and look at me with red chubby cheeks.

"W-W-What!? I will let you know that I'm on diet! As the captain of the Shadow Border I must be fit and ready for action!"

I looked at the blond man as he turned his nose up at me, and as the sweat rolled down his burning face, I laughed. Mash let out a small chuckle and she looked at me, her expression quickly settling down into a worried one.

"Now what Sempai? Do we head straight to where the heroes are?"

I felt my smile sag as I turned and looked at the distance from the rooftop we were on. The building where the Ring of King Solomon was situated was in the middle of Central Park. The building didn't stand out or look all that extravagant like some of the architecture I'd seen in my adventures. It looked rather generic, though quite tall as it extended well past the trees. The exterior was all windows, mirrors which reflected the midday sun, though not annoyingly so. On the front of the building was a shield logo, bearing the letters P.R.T.

"Now we go there and try to negotiate for the ring, peacefully."

"You think you can do it?" Mash looked concerned, holding onto her back tightly and getting into a ready stance. I placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We've wasted two days trying to look for a solution that didn't have us getting into fights or that didn't have a high chance of failing." I clenched my fist at all the time we lost. We only had seven days now, and the hours were ticking by quickly. "We had to choose the bad move from a bunch of worse ones. Da Vinci believes that taking the Ring might help us siphon its mana out to give us more time, but even she's grasping at straws. But we have to try and succeed, no matter how dangerous or useless it might look...you already saw how Holmes is…"

"Mister Sherlock…" Mash bowed her head and I frowned as I thought back to the injured Servant. It was a miracle he had made it back in his state, with almost no magical energy and his body collapsing. It frustrated me that I was asleep while all of this was happening. I should've been there helping him, not in my bed sleeping like everything was okay!

"I must remind you that despite our current desperation and the danger of leaving something like a Noble Phantasm in the hands of an unknown it is still a wedding ring." Goldolf's serious voice made us turn and look at him. "While I've come to stop doubting you Miss Fujimaru, this might not be something you can pull off. Something that precious? I wouldn't give it away."

"I know, I know." Walking through the rooftop to head towards the exit. "But still, I have to try. We didn't come all this way just to lose."

I opened the door, leaning against it to keep it open for Mash and Holmes. I looked back at my tablet and typed in the name Leviathan in the search engine. I got a lot of news articles, blogs, and images of the monster. I narrowed my eyes at the four eyed reptilian. Tapping on an article of the monster's last appearance, I saw images of a devastated Florida. Feeling the door behind me pull a little, I look at the thick fingers of Goldolf and I started walking down the steps, making sure to try and be careful as I continued reading the article.

I read quickly, catching the name Chevalier, the hero who was our target. I saw a list of casualties,_ that's…a lot of names…_ I saw a man in blue armor, holding a halberd.

"You seem quite engrossed in reading about those monsters Miss Fujimaru." I looked up from the tablet and let out a squeal as I missed a step on the stairs. The tablet flew from my hands, but I was grabbed by Mash around my waist and she snatched the twirling tablet from off the air. I took a shuddering breath, feeling a cold sweat roll down my back. I turned towards an outraged Mash.

"Mister Goldolf! Don't scare Sempai like that!" The blonde man cringed back, and she then whirled down on me. "And don't read on your tablet while going down the steps!"

"Sorry..." Mash deposited me on my feet by one of the steps and handed back the tablet. I looked down at the screen of the aquatic monster, reading about the havoc it caused in Florida just a few weeks ago and another attack even more devastating before that one. "But can you blame me? These things look like what you would see from a Kaiju movie. Hell, this one looks like Godzilla!"

"Hrm." A hot breath passed beside my head as Goldolf leaned in to get a better look. "Indeed, in appearance, I can see the similarities."

"Right!?"

"But it looks small compared to the real thing," Mash said and I nodded.

"Yeah…" I looked back at the image of Leviathan and frown. "But it's just as dangerous if it can sink entire islands. It's killed millions."

"Indeed."

I put the tablet away and walked down the steps in silence. We reached the end of the stairs, walked down the rundown hallway and reached the entrance door. I opened them, and my ears were blasted by the sound of an active New York in the middle of the day.

I inhaled deeply, taking in the busy air, then turned and walked down the sidewalk, watching as the pedestrians all walked, talked or did both. I disappeared amongst the crowd, feeling myself becoming another part of the masses. I felt my chest become tight, my eyes drifting from left to right among the crowd I was walking through.

The sound became a rhythmic music of footsteps, of car engines, of people talking. It was a sound I could see was the norm for americans; they were loud, they were busy and they were in constant movement, and it made me fall into the beat. We walked through the sideroad, heading down the steps for the entrance of the subway. The noise of the active life up in New York city started to disappear as we went further down.

We paid for the tickets and headed inside to wait for the train. We stood in comfortable silence, looking around or-

"Sempai...do you hear that?" I turned and looked at the pale haired girl. I raised my eyebrow, focusing a little as-

"Is that, chirping?"

"A lot of chirping Miss Fujimaru." Goldof took a step back, whirling around. I followed suit and flinched back. Dozens of birds flew in through the entrance of the subway, scaring the people besides me and making them cringe back at the loud noises. I saw a girl almost falling down to the tracks, but my arm snapped towards her before I could even think, catching her. She looked at me in surprised, her eyes watering as she started screaming thank yous. I was about to respond-

FRZZ!

I let go of the girl, jumping in surprise at the sudden heat. I looked up and saw the birds were on fire, flying in circles and preventing any civilians from getting close to the edge where the trains passed. The flaming birds started flying towards the-

"Mash! Defend the civilians!" The girl obeyed my command in instant. One moment she was beside me, the next she burst forward. Mash reached for her backpack, grabbed onto a handle right in the middle of its spine and jacked it back. The round bag hardened into steel, the shoulder straps snapped in half, upper parts going up and the opposing parts doing the same below. From up, down and the sides, flexible metal sprouted out forming Mash's signature shield in her arms in a instant.

She stomped on the floor, her boots made by da Vinci helping her use some of her strength to facilitate the use of her speed, and she appeared right in front of two flaming avians as they approached the civilians. The two birds slammed into her portable shield, bouncing off and let out loud 'caw's as they flew back.

I noticed the civilians all run up the stairs to exit the train, most not looking back. I turned towards the other burning winged animals as they flew in place on the edge of the station. Goldolf let out a shuddering breath.

"My, my, how unnerving...they appear like phoenixes like that, don't they?"

"Why thank you fat man." My vision was blocked briefly when Mash jumped in front of me, standing guard for Goldolf and myself. I narrowed my eyes when I caught sight of the man who had spoken.

He had brown tussled hair and a matching beard, and his clear green eyes made them stand out from his pale skin. The earrings on his ears were shaped like teardrops, reminding me of Cu's own earrings. He was dressed in a white polo, blue jeans, and fancy shoes, and a little taller than my five-point-seven feet, maybe five-point-nine. He was a handsome man, and I would have blushed at the sight of him if I hadn't met and interacted with even more handsome men than him. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You did this?"

The man grinned. "Why yes my dear rescuer. How do you like my amazing performance?"

I blinked. Rescuer? Was he someone who was at the café yesterday? The man put his hand on his back, I tensed, Mash took a step forward. He then pulled out a rose, presenting it to me.

"Here you go, for the heroic performance you pulled yesterday." I raised an eyebrow, looking at Goldolf, who just shrugged.

"What do you want...why put so many people in danger?"

"Heh, you really do seem straight as an arrow. Makes it hard to believe that someone like you could pull a stunt like robbing an ambulance and leaving the heroes in the dust." A bird flew from the formation, followed by another one and another. He was surrounded by a circle of fire as the winged creatures flew around him. He grinned, raised his right hand and snapped his fingers, and one of the bird's fire went out and landed on his shoulder. "But still, thank you for the save, honey."

I frowned at the nickname. "You were there, when those guys...the Teeth came and attacked the cafe."

He made an elaborate bow. "Felix Swoop, you have me at your service. Now I may sound quite pretentious, but I'm in dire need of another favor from you, if you would hear me out. Pretty please?"


	9. 2-2

2.2

_What?_

I looked at the man as he gave me a charming smile, his rugged features making me think of an alluring trap. He was hot, and he knew it. He was using his features as a way to make me let my guard down. It was a simple tactic, but it was effective-if I was just some girl from around the block.

I had seen many beautiful men and women in my time in Chaldea, so looking at this man wasn't all that impressive. Maybe I was being unfair, but it was the truth. It was hard to look at someone who merely looked good and blush at their attempts at seduction, when I had met with people whose looks were literally legendary, like Mata Hari, Medb, Lancelot or Fergus. So instead of blushing at his tone and winning smile, I glared.

"You want a favor from me…? Why…?" The image of two body bags appeared in my head and I clenched my fist, my chest feeling tight. The two people that I had failed to save in my stupid decision to be careful. I watched the firebirds dance around him and my lips sagged. "You could've helped me in the cafe. You could've prevented two people from dying!"

The man, Felix Swoop, sighed and shook his head. "Well I did run the risk of her being a naive little idiot…"

"Don't insult Sempai!" Mash scolded, her body tense as she took a step forward. Felix Swoop blinked and narrowed his eyes.

"Hrm, isn't that the girl from the cafe too? Don't tell me she's a projection of yours too?"

"Answer me, why didn't you try to fight against those thugs? Why just sit back and do nothing?" I narrowed my eyes.

"What can I say? I saw you had it handled," was his easy reply and my fist clenched.

_Except I didn't! I screwed up! _"And two people ended up dead because you couldn't use those flaming birds to help? Only coming in at the end?"

"I did save your life, so in theory you owe me a little."

"Forget it!" I pointed at him. "I'm not going to owe or give any favors to someone who is willing to let other people get killed without even trying to help!"

"Hey, hey, hey! You're making a lot of assumptions here honey!" Felix Swoop now looked annoyed. "I can totally get you having an awesome power and all but chill out. Not everybody hits the power lottery, so tone it down with me letting people die."

"You had one bird with you...why not give some support?" Mash asked, her tone curious.

Felix Swoop sighed and waggled his finger. "I'm not saying anything else. You aren't giving a full explanation of your powers and I'm not going to do the same about mine. And besides, I'm a horrible matchup against Hemorrhagia. With her bio manipulation, she would have torn my birds into pieces. The Manton Effect unfortunately doesn't extend its protection towards flying avians."

_Manton Effect…? _I furrowed my brows, turning to give Goldolf a look as the man studied the situation. He noticed my look and nodded. He cleared his throat and regarded the bird manipulator.

"And what is this favor you want..Mister...uh...Swoop?" Goldolf's initial swagger hit rock bottom before it could even lift up. I smiled a little at the sweat rolling down his face, turning to focus on the man before us.

"Oh great...this is what I hate when dealing with masters or projectors, I can't tell when I'm speaking to the real thing…" Felix Swoop complained, shaking his head. He sighed, straightened up and spread his arms as his flaming birds flew around him like a halo. He grinned. "What I want, O potential apprentice of the dark arts of magic? What I want is to teach you! To guide you towards reaching your full potential!"

...what?

"M-Magic?" Mash took a step back, Goldolf hummed.

"A magus…? But I haven't tasted any activation spell...and there's not even a Boundary Field around…"

Felix Swoop ignored the words. "I have seen your fight and saw promise. So what I'm offering is a favor for myself and for you as well…" He stopped, shaking his head. "I swear to fucking god, Epoch is such an asshole for getting us all to do this damn schtick…"

"If you're just going to goof off, then I believe the misses and myself shall be going." Goldolf called out, which made the man look up.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't be like that!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Well you are making us waste time. We've got places to be."

Felix Swoop grinned. "Oh, yeah, like taking that train to go see the old knight?"

I winced back and glared. "How do you…?"

"Hehe, well, New York is the biggest cape city in the entire United States. Where all the comic book level crap tends to happen and where the biggest players are. It would be weird for my group not to be informed of such things. Especially of a newcomer who rose up and took down a Teeth member." He tilted his head, cupping his chin. "Though, I gotta wonder how you know the old knight is married…"

_He's bluffing...there's no way he knows of the Shadow Border… _I bit my lip, eyes flicking up to the birds flying overhead. _Could he have heard of us with those birds…? But when...at the rooftop?_

Felix Swoop noticed my focus and his eyes widened a little, his smirk slipping slightly. I focused on it just as he corrected his features. So it's that...

"Anyways…" He quickly started. "Things in New York are rather tense. So you can consider that favor I asked to be an offer. Join my group and we'll keep other gangs from getting you or the Teeth from getting revenge on you."

_Feeding me bullshit to scare me?_ "Chevalier told me that they wouldn't come after me."

"Oh please, what else did he tell you? Did he also tell you that New York is the safest spot in the world and he can kill Endbringers?" Felix Swoop scoffed and glared at me. "Listen up, I'm going to give a little preview of what you would hear if you accept my offer and join up with the Adepts. Chevalier is a washed-up-sour-knight who is trying to live up to a legacy he'll never be able to fill. Legend was the hero of New York. Legend is the one everyone sings their praises of. Legend is the one who made heroing and villaining safe in New York. Sour Knight might be a great hero, but he's stuck in the past trying to do something someone else already did. No wonder whatever the hell he had with Miss Militia failed, and we got stuck with his terrible Knight Templar impression in this city."

I felt a pang of anger at the way this guy talked about the hero. I didn't know why, but it irked me that he was talking so badly about the knight who had come to my rescue. Goldolf took a step forward and pointed at him.

"You seem to have taken a personal offence with the hero, why?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but Mash cut him off. "Are you a villain?"

The man blinked, flinching back and coughing. He scratched the back of his head. "I prefer the term of magician or performer if you would."

"And you're expecting us to accept a deal with you?" I asked as I raised an eyebrow. He grimaced.

"Well this shit isn't going well for me…" He looked back at us. "Listen, the Adepts are considered a villain group, sure, but we aren't really all that bad. So listen up, this here's my grand sales pitch! The Adepts will be good for you honey. Why you may ask? Because you'll get trained in how to be more of a trickster, literally using your powers like a professional magician. You'll also be part of a group, though since you'll be just starting out you'll be on the bottom rung where most recent additions go. Hell, you'll be our lucky number sixteen. Well unless you decide to jump the gun and challenge someone from an upper tier to get their position."

"Challenge an upper tier?" I asked and he nodded.

"Yup, pretty medieval crap or Victorian or whatever. The case is if you have some big cojones you can challenge someone from a different tier from your own and take their position, whether the one you challenge is a leader of a tier or lucky depends on who you fought with. Though if you lose you do have to face a couple of punishments." He gagged and rolled his eyes. "Punishment sucks, so be careful with whom you decide to fight."

This group seemed pretty disorganized; you could just issue challenges and take positions of power? For anyone desperate to belong somewhere this type of group would've been perfect. I clenched my fist as I remember the me from before Chaldea. _God I would've gotten swayed into this if this guy knew how to throw a good pitch._

"Hmm, a competitive streak between magus?" Goldolf nodded. "Ohoho! It reminds me about my own rivalries to get to the top. Throwing all sorts of tricks at my enemies in order to win. Whether it be having my maids and butlers cut their tires so they wasted time replacing it or stealing their food to keep them weak. If it's to win I will do what I must!"

"Hey, fat man totally gets it!" Felix Swoop cheered, making Goldolf turn red.

"Don't call me fat! I'm just heavy set!"

"But why would the heroes be after you if you don't call yourselves villains?" Mash asked, her hold over the shield tightening. "Have you hurt people?"

"What!? No...We can be a bit of a troublemaker admittedly. I mean we kind of like screwing with the P.R.T….nothing too bad like attacking them or anything like that." He coughed a little and turned around, avoiding our gaze. "Anyway we also do live performance with our tricks and members. People find us amusing but the heroes get annoyed with us! Oh, but most gangs hates our guts since we tend to get in the way of their attempts for territory and power. What can I say, we're modern Robin Hoods."

"Other villains hate you?" I asked and he smirked.

"I ain't revealing all my tricks to you honey. You have to accept my offer and you'll get the premium membership advantages." His smile grew at my narrowing eyes. "Oh don't be like that, you know it's only fair. But I'll let you in on some of that info as part of my pitch. The heroes? Sure they keep order on the streets, but it's the Adepts that stopped greedy little minxes like the Teeth or Accord's Ambassadors from getting too greedy. New York is our turf, and we won't let—

VROOM! VROOM!

I flinched and looked at subway tunnel. Motorcycles…? A faint gasp came from Felix Swoop as he turned his head in the direction of sound.

"I thought I had more time before they got here…" He looked back at us. "Honey, are you going to accept my offer with joining the Adepts?"

I focused on his eyes, seeing them shift from me to the approaching roar. He was sweating and clenching his fists. The option that he was giving me had some appeal, street smart information for the situation in a unknown area? It would be smart to go for it...but—

"I refuse your offer. I've got my own priorities to handle right now, so I can't accept."

Felix Swoop let out a sigh. "Fuck me, as much as I hate that bitch Paddock, she always has a damn point. Fine, but you don't know what you're missing. Anyway, I don't want to start sharing a cell with some asshole, so ciao honey!"

He waved at me, and I took a step forward—but he snapped his waving hand towards us and whistled loudly. The flaming birds started and in unison, all flew towards us.

"Ghi!" Goldolf squealed as he took a step back. Mash tensed at the approaching wall of fire launching towards us. She burst forward, the fire smashing against her and forcing Mash to come to a halt as she stumbled back slightly. The birds let out screeching 'caws' as they flapped their wings and slashed with their talons at the shield in her hands. The fire wall gave way, the flames fizzling out as the birds flew around us and towards the opposing subway tunnel.

I turned, looking as they flew away in a frenzy, their screeching drowned out by the roars of motorcycle engines. I looked away from the birds and narrowed my gaze as two costumed people screeched to a halt right in the middle of the railroad tracks. One of them, a girl dressed in dark purple looked up as she brought out a crossbow. The other one, a male, followed suit and pulled out a lance. They approached us, with caution.

"It wasn't us who attacked the civilians," was the first thing out my mouth as I tried to deescalate the situation. The two heroes stopped, looked at one another and nodded.

The girl holstered her weapon. "Yeah, we kinda figured when we saw the flaming birds."

I let out a sigh of relief and looked at Mash, who let her guard down. She nodded at me.

"Well, now that's twice you defeated a villain." The male in armor and carrying a lance hummed. "Chevalier told us to get a hold of you and convince you into becoming a hero, and I'm somewhat glad to see you already doing that."

"Though with less injuries this time." The girl gave me a smile and I chuckled.

"Thankfully." I looked up and regarded Goldolf and Mash. "Talking about Chevalier, we were planning on heading towards the P.R.T. building to get a meeting with him. Will that be a problem?"

"Well...this is a first." The male hero snorted as he leaned back. The girl crossed her arms and nodded.

"Yeah, things are going smoothly. That never happens. I'm glad." She grinned and pulled out her phone from her costume pockets. "About that meeting, it can be arranged for right now miss."

I smiled, feeling a hand on my shoulder and looking at Mash's eyes shining. I nodded at her and winked at Goldolf who let out a happy hum.

Things are really looking up...here's hoping that nothing fucks them up...


	10. 2-3

2.3

I stood beside Mash and Goldolf, who was nervously shifting from right to left in discomfort as the black armored P.R.T. personnel secured the subway. I looked around, seeing the two heroes who had arrived earlier talk amongst themselves. They pointed in the direction Felix Swoop had left and then threw glances at me. My vision was obstructed by another costumed woman.

"You seem tense," the heroine Prism stated as she took a step towards me. Her skintight hero suit was decorated with an array of colors on her arms and legs, as well as belts and a mask that covered the upper part of her face, leaving her mouth exposed. Her blonde hair swayed left and right with her movement. The mask reminded me of Batgirl now that I thought about it, but the mask had lenses unlike the comic book hero.

"I'm fine, really, it's just...uh…"_ Gotta think of something! _"I'm a little nervous after the ambulance thing."

"Yeah, that was highly irresponsible and dumb. Though we can overlook it thanks to your efforts in fending off yet another villain." Prism snorted and gave me a thumbs up. "In my opinion you're good."

"Marvelous!" Goldolf placed his hands on my shoulder and I looked up at him. He was giving a blinding smile and demonstrating his usual swagger, though the sweat rolling down his face, as always, told me how nervous he was feeling. "I had been quite worried that Miss Fujimaru and Miss Kyrielight would've gotten into some serious trouble after the stunt they pulled. Hahaha!"

"The higher ups are still considering the consequences of her stunt." The heroine's words made me wince and Goldolf stiffened. Prism shook her head. "When I say it was irresponsible and stupid I meant it. Stealing an ambulance after rescuing the hostages and leaving an entire group of criminals injured was horrible for the medics, especially the confusion you caused with us trying to determine if the medic you created was the real one or a fake...or the fact that we had to stay with two dead bodies out in the public for longer than what we were comfortable with."

I bit my lip, blinking when I noticed I was looking straight at the ground. It'd been years since someone talked me down this bad and it had me feeling shame. For fuck's sakes, what the hell was I thinking? Well I wasn't and it wasn't my decisions, but still. I clenched my fist and—

"It wasn't Sempai's fault…"

I blinked and looked at the pale haired girl. "Mash…"

The glass wearing Demi-Servant glared at the silent hero. "Sempai saved those people...Sempai has been through enough stress in the past few months...I promised I would protect her, I wasn't going to let her stand in front of something that was hurting her."

"Mash...calm down, really…" I placed a hand on her shoulder, seeing my faithful friend stand in defiance. She shook her head.

"I refuse. I won't let someone judge Sempai unfairly."

I felt a smile tug up my cheeks at my best friend's words. Mash, no matter what or who or where, she was always reliable. Always standing before me like the shield she swore to be for me. I found myself standing straighter and looking at the hero with more confidence.

Prism frowned, cocking her head and then looking at me. "Is she another one of those minions you can create?"

"W-What…!?" My composure was broken slightly at her words and the heroine looked at Goldolf.

"Is he the same?"

_She ignored everything that Mash said...because she thinks I can create minions…? Wait is that how they have me categorized!?_ I didn't know how to feel about that, but— _I'm definitely not letting someone think Mash is just a fake!_

"She's real, don't treat her like something that doesn't exist!" My tone came across harsher than what I had planned. I took a step back and looked at Mash. The girl let a happy smile cross her lips, and I let out a breath as I focused back onto Prism.

"Sorry…" the heroine amended quickly, taking a step back. "I didn't mean to offend. I'm just curious about your powers, that's all. Again, sorry."

"Don't worry." I sighed, calming myself down and giving the hero a small smile._ I need to back off and get negotiations underway. _"So...uh, is Chevalier coming here? Or…"

"We'll be transporting you to the P.R.T. building actually." Prism frowned. "There was word of the Teeth being seen near North Bergen, New Jersey yesterday. If our intel is correct then that means they may be coming to retrieve Hemorrhagia."

"And take revenge on me, right?"

"...I can't deny that." The heroine sighed and turned towards the young heroine. "Flechette, are we done investigating where the annoying bird ran off to?"

"Yep." Flechette walked towards us and smiled at me before turning her attention back to the older woman. "Swoop ran down one of the maintenance shafts leading to the old subway underneath. He's probably running off back to Harlem."

"Making him not a priority right now." Prism nodded. "We can arrest him later, though I would like to leave the Adepts to take the brunt of the Teeth attacks for now."

"The brunt of their attacks? Miss Prism...you would leave two villains group to fight that freely?" Mash questioned, her frown making the heroine shift.

"It isn't as we like to do it, but the Adepts seemed to have fancied themselves to be some force of necessary evil for New York. Since they want to play it that way, we let them; it lets us focus on getting the civilians out of the way of the crossfire." Prism crossed her arms. "Besides, the Teeth are focusing back on New York thanks to Felix Swoop apparently taking territory from them."

"You allow villains to do such things?" Goldolf rubbed his chin in thought.

"Of course we don't! We didn't even know that the Teeth had something like that, especially with them being on the move all around the U.S." She sighed and gestured for the stairs that led out of the subway. "Anyhow, let's get you to the P.R.T. building for that interview."

I nodded at Mash and Goldolf, and we followed after the two heroines. I looked back at black military personnel and at the medieval hero as they continued with their investigation. I frowned.

"Are we going to leave the others behind? What if they ambush him?"

"No need to worry about Jouster, he can take care of himself." Flechette looked back with a smile. "The squad of P.R.T. officers are all trained to fight against super powered people, so they'll be fine."

"Besides, Ursa Aurora will be coming here to help prevent that." We reached the outside of the subway, seeing a crowd of people gather around and being held back by more of the military people. An armored black van was waiting for us. Prism turned towards us. "After you."

I got inside the vehicle, noting the simple and effective interior. It reminded me of a SWAT van as I took my seat. Mash and Goldolf followed suit, sitting to my sides. The man was sweating as he looked around. The heroes sat on the opposite side of us, both quiet. There were footsteps, the van dipped to one side and the driver got on. A minute later the vehicle was finally on the move.

Prism looked at us. "I don't want to look like I'm intruding in your personal life, but you aren't from America...are you?"

_Small talk...I can get information from this society and the events from out of them. It would also improve my chances with negotiations. And this is the perfect excuse to use for me not knowing stuff. _"Yeah, we aren't from America."

"Indeed, indeed!" Goldolf gladly stepped in. "As a man of honor and class I took in both misses when they had nowhere to go! Truly a generous act befitting of the Musik family."

"...right…?" Prism's response made me look at the blond man. He merely coughed into his fist, looking away. "Well if he is your legal guardian then it should make it easier to get you into the Wards. Let's just hope that all the paperwork doesn't take to long, we really could use someone like you in our group."

_Paperwork…! Oh shit I forgot about that sort of thing…!_

This was problematic, we all had been so busy trying to get things in order that I didn't even consider something as filing paperwork to be an issue. I'd been stumbling forward for the past few days and it was messing with my chances of making things right._ Keep it together...handle that issue when you get to it…_

"So...what was up with that guy? Does he go around trying to make every pretty girl join his gang?" The heroine smirked at my words and nodded.

"Swoop really likes to think of himself as this big charmer who can get any girl. Problem is he can come off as a creep at times." She leaned forward. "But birdbrain isn't the one leading the gang. He's a lackey who is smart enough and rose through the ranks up to the Third Tier of that group, by picking his enemies well and making himself too valuable to get rid off."

"Too valuable?" Mash asked, tilting her head to the side. Flechette butted in.

"Yup, he somehow found a way into the old subway system and pretty much managed to figure out how to traverse it a few months ago. So with the Adepts playing around and going wherever they liked, things have become a hassle. Especially if everything goes into another Boston Game situation." She sighed, mumbling. "Things in Boston and Brockton Bay are getting heated...the Endbringer attack in Florida didn't help at all with the tensions though…"

"Flechette…" Prism looked at the younger heroine and she winced. I frowned at that. Just how much trouble were the heroes having? It was weird seeing superheroes be put on their back foot. But, I believed they would find a way.

We sat in silence, waiting to arrive at the P.R.T. building. I leaned back and closed my eyes, thinking over how I would negotiate for Solomon's Ring.

_Have to think of it as a wedding ring, if I keep thinking it's a Noble Phantasm then I'll lose the negotiations. So what can I reveal? My hands clenched and I took a deep breath. The end of the world is crucial, I can't hold that back. The details are unfortunately lost on me but that fact is something I have to open with. But how would I know this...I would have to reveal that I'm from an alternate world. It wouldn't be the first time I've revealed something ridiculous like I'm a time traveling or from another timeline while I was in a singularity or lostbelt...the question is if they would believe me. I need to show my hand and appeal to that hero, Chevalier's sensibiltivities. Hrm...this is risky and-_

My body jerked left, the air rushing out of my lungs as my world spun.

CRASH!

I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth as the vehicle flipped end over end and-

CRACK!

I felt blood rush to my head and my eyes snap open, looking at the upside down Prism. The heroine had blood running down her nose. A groan made me look at Flechette, who had her arms hanging limp.

"S-Sempai…!" I turned my head, looking at the dizzy Mash. I tried to reach for her, then groaned as my arms feel like lead. Letting them drop I looked at the sweaty and shifty looking Goldolf. I groaned and tried again to move. My hands went for my seatbelt, detaching it and letting myself drop-

"Gah!" I landed on my right shoulder and my world turned white.

"Sempai!"

"I-I'm fine! I'm fine!" I gritted my teeth, turning towards Mash. I went to help get the seatbelt off her, being careful not to let her fall. THUNK! I cringed and looked back, seeing Prism had gotten down as well. She moved and helped Flechette down as well. The heroine looked at me as she set the younger girl down.

"Stay here...under attack, we-!"

CRUNCH! PRAK!

Her words were drowned out as the side of the van was ripped off by a large ragged and sharp claw. The vehicle's side was thrown without a backward glance by a monster with bone plating covering its body and snout. The gray and bony monster snarled, planting itself on all-fours and leaning close to us. Prism stiffened and leaned back.

"A-Animos!?"

"Y-yourgh harve shomepin tats mine…!" the creature snarled. It pulled its head back and roared.

I flinched, covering my ears. I looked at the monster and saw movement behind the walking nightmare. Gunmen wearing familiar armor.

_Oh fuck me...why the fuck do villains want to take revenge on me now of all times!?_


	11. 2-4

2.4

The beast snarled, thick drool rolling down sharp canine teeth. Hot air escaped through gorilla like nostrils, as the horse like head scrunched up in anger. The goat eyes twitched as it focused down on us, bloodshot and bulging. The long black neck tensed, veins popping out and throbbing as it moved its thin black legs. The claws scraped the pavement as it approached us, long spiked tail whipping behind him. Prism dragged herself forward and spread her arms, as if the motion would create a barrier between herself and him.

"What do you want Animos? Hemorrhagia is safely locked up and ready to be thrown in the Birdcage any time now! You aren't stupid enough to storm the P.R.T. Headquarters to get her out."

"Yrou ca have gher furr arr I careee," Animos growled, his huge animal like body leaning forward and slobbering on the floor. "Irgh wrant Swoop!"

I looked at Mash as she reached for her backpack and pulled it in front of herself. She returned my look, then a groan made me look at Goldolf as he fiddled with his seatbelt. The blonde man's face scrunched up.

"Get me off this abominable thing! It is bringing back memories of when I crashed my racing car!" I moved to help, hearing the loud thumps of Animos and his growls. Goldolf was sweating profusely as he looked outside.

"Birdy isn't here Animos! So go away!" Prism informed the criminals.

"LIES!" I flinched, my hands stopping from freeing Goldolf. I shook my head and finally clicked the seat belt opened. My hands quickly snapped up and kept the upside down man from falling. I looked at him and he let out a shuddering breath.

"Thank you… Miss Fujimaru…"

Another growl came from outside. "Myr men saw dre frucking thief in dre shubway… you lie!"

"He escaped like he always does." Prism pulled back slightly. I looked at the heroines and saw Flechette reaching for something in her boot.

__

_Crap this is a bad position to be in if a fight starts!_

"What do we do boss?" one of the thugs questioned the monster, his gun still pointed at them. Animos growled, his goat like eyes focusing on the heroines, then on Mash and then on me. His eyes widened and his maw twisted into something ugly.

"Trake the britch who ktook down Hemrogriah."

I tensed, and Goldolf got down with us as Mash unfolded the backpack into her portable shield and-

"Two minutes!" Prism called out, causing the Teeth outside to stop.

"Wrat?"

"It's been two minutes since you roared," Prism said casually as the monster's eyes widened, maw opening wide- "Now Flechette!"

The young heroine exploded into action, her hand swiping forward and throwing a dart for the open mouth of Animos. The dart flew into the beast and the criminal tensed.

"GHKH!?" Animos thrashed uncontrollably as he started choking on the piece of metal lodged in his throat. Prism moved, her body shifting as two versions of herself sprouted out of her in her charge. She reached the gagging monster and the copies slammed back into the original just as she shoulder-checked Animos.

The criminal let out a whine as he was launched back, making the gunmen behind him scatter to avoid being crushed. Flechette turned towards me as she reached over for her crossbow.

"Take cover and please make sure the driver is okay!" The heroine didn't wait for my or anyone else's reply as she got out of the overturned vehicle. As she disappeared from my view the sound of battle reached my ears-

BANG! BANG! BANG! CRACK! FWIP! PKANG!

It was a sound I was familiar with, and as such, I moved without hesitation. Crawling towards the driver's seat I winced as a piece of glass pierced my knee. I leaned forward and saw the P.R.T. officer who had driven the van hanging upside down. My gaze shifted to his partner and I winced at all the blood. I shook my head and turned towards the mystified Goldolf and Mash who were on guard.

"Goldolf! I could use some help here." The man cringed at my words, looking at me with confusion before nodding.

"Of course Miss Fujimaru!" He crawled towards me and I pushed myself to the side to give him space. He cracked his knuckles and took a deep breath.

"Rollende Ster!" he incantated to himself. The man then clenched his right hand into a fist and thrust forward. Grabbing onto the driver seat, he pulled and-

CRCKSH!

"That should be enough," I said as Goldolf used his other arm to prevent the unconscious officer from hitting his head. I crawled back and looked at Mash. "Alright, cover our exit Mas-!"

CREAK!

The van's floor on top of us started to cave and I felt my breath go cold. I flattened myself against the roof of the vehicle, gritting my teeth as a sharp claw pierced through the metal and reached for my head. My vision was obscured by Mash who jumped over me, her back pressing against my chest as the girl used her shield.

CLANG! CRRRRREEAG!

The claw scraped against the shield before it was quickly retracted. A roar occured on top of us and something crashed against the street. I saw Animos scrambling to his feet and charge away from the vehicle we were trapped in. Mash turned towards me, her eyes wide and shaky.

"Sempai are you okay!?"

"I'm fine! Let's get out of here before something like that happens again!" Mash got off me and moved to the hole ripped through the van. We crawled through it and I got a clear view of the streets.

The pavement was cracked and caved in with claw marks. Cars were flipped over, filled of bullet holes, or squashed. Glass was everywhere, covering the streets and sidewalks from the destroyed windows of the vehicles and buildings. The gunshots and roars a good fifteen meters to my right made me wince as I took the action in.

Prism and Flechette were moving from debris to debris, using them as cover against the hail of bullets and the raging beast. The older heroine duplicated herself when she jumped over her cover just as the gunmen aimed and fired. The duplicates formed a single being once more and the heroine disappeared in a burst of speed, going under the hail of bullets and delivering a bone shattering drop kick into Animos' face. The monster grunted, stumbling back. The body started to shrink and the criminal growled at Prism.

"Come Miss Fujimaru! We must get to cover!" I looked at Goldolf as he carried the ripped driver seat with one arm. The officer, still in the seat, groaned as the blonde man hurried to stand behind an alleyway a few feet away.

"Let's go Sempai!" Mash was right in front of me, her shield ready. Her eyes met mine and I nodded, following after Goldolf. I skidded to a halt as Goldolf put the officer down on the floor. The man groaned and looked at us dizzily. Goldolf stood and looked at me, his expression ashen and pale.

"I believe this is a fine time to retreat!"

"And leave those crazy thugs to kill the heroes!? No! We have to do something!"

"Miss Fujimaru I understand that you wish...uh...you wish to save all these innocent people...but…" He frowned and blinked, shaking his head. "I don't think staying is a good idea."

"Why was Goldolf stuttering?" Was something wrong with him? I narrowed my eyes.

"Sempai?" I blinked and looked at the girl. She tilted her head. "Were you thinking out loud?"

"Was I?" I frowned and-BOOM!-I jumped and looked through the corner of the alleyway, seeing the battle intensify. I blinked when I saw a scared person surrounded by fire.

"Someone is in fire!"

"I...bel...I think we should leave…" Goldolf stammered and I looked at him with a raised eyebrow Why was he talking so weirdly?

"Sempai! Sempai! Do we save him?"

"Who…?" I looked at the dizzy officer looking around. He looked at us. "Him?"

"...me…?"

"No! Sempai! The one you said was scared!"

"Oh!" I turned back to where the action was. I pointed at where the person was surrounded by fire and ran. "Let's go!"

"Wait-! Do n...don't be so reckless Fuji...Fujimaru!" The blonde man's voice sounded behind me as I ran. Trying to reach the fire and-

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Ah!" I flinched and crouched, covering my head with my hands. I trembled and looked around. I saw the bad men with guns firing 'bang-bang-bang' or Kra-ta-ta-ta' going off very loudly.

"Sempai wait!" I looked at Mash and I stood up, waving at her.

"Over here!" I then turned and ran to the fire. "Let's help th-uh!?"

There was fire, but it wasn't a person...it was a seat? But I saw a person...why wasn't it a person?

VROOM! VROOM! I flinched and crouched, Mash stood in front of me with her hands held out wide. I looked up and saw two bikes and two new people! A knight in shining armor and a girl!

The monster roared, the womanl who can make clones jumped and stumbled behind a car. The other girl threw something but misses. The monster ran to the knight and the third girl! The knight swung his sword at the monster. Third girl makes bears appear. The monster screamed and runs back. Knight and third girl follow.

BOOM! CRASH!

Loud noises! The Knight swings something big, Monster screams and the big breaks. Bears scream, monster screams.

Boom!

Floor breaks. Girl in front of me looked around.

"Sempai save!"

I frowned. What did she mean?

"Fuck!" I shook, looking at knight. "This effect...Reaver!"

"Took you long enough to figure it out," new voice talked, I turned towards voice. Pointy man was holding-

"Goldolf!"

I stood up and look at scared Goldolf. Pointy man looks at me and smiles.

"Come on boys! Animos! We're going!" Pointy man said and dragged Goldolf away. "We'll use fatso as a meat shield if we get into any trouble."

"Don't give me orders!" I turned towards new voice. Bad men with guns point at me, I crouch and cover my head. "Leave them, we don't want a fucking kill order on us for murdering everyone here. Let's go, we'll find that cocksucker next time!"

New voice is angry, I peeked, looking past Mash and didn't see a monster. Where did monster go? I looked to where knight and girls were, where were they? I saw them sleeping on the floor. But it wasn't night yet, why sleep?

Bad men, new voice and pointy man left with Goldolf. I stood up, they couldn't leave with Goldolf!

"Goldolf!" I ran after them.

"Sempai!" 

I stopped, where did they go? I looked at space between building. I tilted my head in confusion. Which path did they take?

Was it right or left…?

"Sempai?" I look at glass wearing Mash.

"Where did they go?"

"Sempai!"

"Huh…?" I looked away from Mash and frowned when I turned too hard and was looking at the crushed car. "Hey, where is the space between the buildings?! Where is Goldolf?"

"Sempai!"

"Huh…" I looked at Mash, biting myself. She was saying my name way too much! I couldn't keep count of how many times she did that. My hands were close and felt like crying as I look around. Everything looked so big! It was so complicated, the shapes and paths. My chest felt tight and I crouched, putting my hands over my head.

What was happening?! Why was everything so complicated!?

_Help! Someone help! Mom! Mom!_


	12. 2-5

2.5  
_  
One, kill the Nemean Lion. Two, kill the Lernean Hydra. Three, capture the Ceryneian Hind. Four, capture the Erymanthian Boar. Five, clean the Augean Stables. Six, kill the Stymphalian Birds. Seven, capture the Cretan Bull. Eight, capture the Mares of Diomedes. Nine, take the Girdle of the Amazon Queen Hippolyta. Ten, capture the Cattle of Geryon. Eleven, take the Golden Apples of the Hesperides. Twelve, capture Cerberus._

And remembering all of the deeds Heracles had done to become a legend, I felt smart again.

_With a stupid line like that, I have to wonder if I really got my smarts back_… I rubbed my forehead, clenching my teeth. I let out air through my nose and looked at Mash, who stood behind me with a worried look. My hands closed into a tight fist, face scrunching up as I thought of Goldolf.

"We'll get him back Mash."

"I know Senpai…" She smiled at me, then looked away. I clenched my hands and looked up at the tall New York buildings.

_You made this personal now, Teeth or whatever stupid name you have. I'm coming after you._

I understood that these thoughts were irrational and just me venting anger for yet another failure. Goldolf was taken right from under my nose and I was too stupid to stop it. It was infuriating to be one-upped by some criminals after everything I had faced. Mythological heroes, demons and gods. You would think I would be on top of things with just a gang of thugs…

"Are you girls okay?" I blinked, looking at the hero Chevalier. The knight approached me, and I snorted a little at the deja vu of the situation. The helm of the hero tilted to the left as he reached us. Mash nodded.

"Is everyone else okay?"

"A couple of injured civilians and some property damage. One of the officers died during the crash...fortunately he was the only casualty, but it was still one too many." Chevalier raised his left gauntlet, my eyes following it as I knew what was on his ring finger. My watch was vibrating a little, indicating that Solomon's ring was still firmly on the hero's person. "Reaver's powers are just as obstructive as ever, damn it...hrm, sorry. Though, has his range amplified?"

I frowned. "What are his powers? It was so tough to think anything complicated...I felt so stupid…"

"In a way you described his powers perfectly. He has a determinate field from where his powers work from, an area of effect with him in at the center. The range was previously confirmed to be twenty meters, but judging by today's performance it may have grown." He shook his head, then crossed his arms. "To describe it in detail, if you are within his range then he can steal your intelligence and add it to his own over time. Fortunately, it isn't an instant thing. Even in the best case scenario his abilities are annoying, making heroes or officers stumble around, wondering if they are holding their weapons right. At worst they can be downright deadly, as the Teeth have no qualms about gunning you down when you can't fight back. What makes it even more infuriating is that you forget whatever strategy you had planned. Best way to handle him is to have someone who can knock him out with an area of effect attack or attacking from range."

I narrowed my eyes at the description of power. That sounds annoying.

"My, my, again with you." I turned to look at the older heroine who had come with Chevalier. She adjusted her cracked glossy black bear mask. She stopped beside the knight and crossed her arms. "Two times in less than a week you've fought against the Teeth. Your luck must be pretty rotten."

"Ursa…" Chevalier's tone was disapproving, making the female beside him look away. I sighed at the woman's words, not really caring for what she thought as I had something more important to ask.

_I need to ask him about the ring...this is my chance...I can negotiate for it if I play my cards right-_

"What about Goldolf!?" The words came out of my mouth involuntarily. I blinked, biting my lips. I focused on Chevalier when he let out a sigh.

"It was unfortunate that he was taken by such a dangerous group. We will find him, but we must first check on the injured civilians and assess the damage done to the area." He raised a hand when I took a step forward.

"What if he gets killed? Goldolf is in danger!"

"I understand and I am not saying that we will leave him be. We will begin a search operation as soon as possible. But, we have more urgent priorities."

"Mister Goldolf isn't a priority…?" Mash said in disbelief. I looked at her worried face and my own scrunched up in frustration at the wording of the hero. Chevalier cursed under his breath and shook his head.

"That came out horrible...and it wasn't what I meant to say." He looked at Mash. "While you haven't seen the worst of what has been going behind the scenes, I can tell you that things are bad. Villains just as bad or even worse than the Teeth are here right now doing god knows what...villains like March who is constantly harassing and nearly killing Flechette, or a worse one we just found we've been harboring, Bakuda. A lunatic bomb tinker who came back here after her failure in Brockton Bay."

I clenched my hands. I could understand, really I could. "But…"

"As heroes we must do our best to help those in need and those who are within our reach. We can't overextend ourselves and leave the others unattended. Trust me, we will save your guardian. I can promise you that."

He really is a hero. I looked at the knight and nodded. But it isn't enough...I shouldn't be so worried, Goldolf can take care of himself...I should focus on the ring, if that can fix our problems, then I can save Goldolf no problem at all. With Chaldea back at full strength we can save this world and then go back to save ours from the Alien God…

I looked at the knight and opened my mouth to agree with him-

_Be brave and be responsible when you face the world, Ritsuka-chan._

I winced at the words that echoed in my head and closed my mouth. I couldn't just do that. I couldn't let Goldolf get hurt. I closed my eyes and saw the two body bags being carried away. Goldolf was being held against his will by the very same people who were willing to hurt and even kill innocents. It was impossible for me to let something like that go.

But what about the rest of the world? Would you put it at risk just to save a man who is aware of the danger?

"Listen to me," Chevalier started, pointing at the P.R.T. officers behind him. "How about you wait for us in the van and continue as you originally planned? We can give the two of you somewhere to rest while we take care of things here, and then focus on rescuing your guardian."

_That's my opportunity for the ring! All I have to say is...is..._ I bit my lips and shook my head.

"No it's fine."

"It's fine?" His voice sounded incredulous. "Your guardian has been taken and you think it's going to be fine?"

"Yeah…" I look at Mash and stood straight. "Because we'll find him."

"That's dangerous and irresponsible, I can't let minors do something so—!"

"I'm over eighteen actually," I stated, furrowing my brow. "I think in this nation that makes me a legal adult?"

"There's more to it than that…" Chevalier's left hand went to his helm as he shook his head. "Please listen to me. I can understand being worried for your guardian, I can see that you two care for him, but you have to look at the bigger picture. The Teeth are dangerous foes who will kill and cause violence without a single care in the world just because of their newfound deluded sense of justice. You two are young and I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I let you two go. So please come with me and trust us."

_This man is really a hero. It's like he jumped out of a comic book and is standing before me...this is so cool._ I smiled, feeling the hero's genuine concern and sense of protectiveness wash over me. _Being around so many Servants has really screwed up my perceptions of how heroes work. You don't need to have great power or the guts to face the impossible...you can be a hero just by inspiring something in someone or by showing your willingness to help. Really this guy is amazing...but…_

"I trust you," Chevalier seemed to relax, moving his hand to place it on my shoulder. My next words stopped him. "But...what kind of person would I be if I just let Goldolf be in danger? I have the means to save him and I will. You said so yourself. You're busy trying to be heroes for an entire city that needs saving. So let me be a hero for Goldolf."

"This is foolish...you will get yourself killed!" Chevalier's voice was harsh, but I kept calm as I looked at the man. He pointed at Mash. "What about her? Will you drag her in this irresponsible rescue mission and get her hurt? Or god forbid, something worse?"

"I can take care of myself!" Mash stepped forward and stood beside me. "I've stood by Senpai against worse. And I'll keep protecting her no matter who stands in front of me."

"This…" The knight's hands were clenched. "And everyone who you will hurt with this insensible and reckless rush of yours?"

"We'll save anyone in our path," I said with more confidence than I felt. I knew my words were hollow. _You can't save everyone_, those words had been hammered into me by EMIYA. He always made sure that I understood this while in a Singularity. Even as I tried to fight against such a cynical view, I couldn't deny the reality of the words. I could only save those who were within my reach.

"I should come up with a reason to have you arrested...that way I can keep you out of trouble." I tensed, and Mash started fingering the backpack, ready to pull out her shield. A tense moment passed and Chevalier sighed, stepping back and motioning for the heroine beside him to walk back to the vans where the officers were. "I won't do that...it would be an abuse of power, and it would be a violation of what living in this country means...I just ask...please, be careful."

I smiled at the hero and nodded. I looked at Mash, the girl stepped back and we walked away from the heroes. We walked past the P.R.T. officers barricading the area and mingled with the onlookers. I grabbed Mash's hand and dragged her through the crowd, until we got out and continued marching through the street.

I stopped and looked at my friend with a small smile.

"I'm not thinking straight, am I?"

"Senpai...no matter what choice you pick, I'll stand by you. If you want to save Goldolf and get the ring later, then we'll do it."

"But...what if we waste too much time Mash?" I looked down and licked my lips. "I put on a lot of bravado back there...but…"

"But nothing, because we'll make it work." I blinked and gazed at the gentle smile on Mash's face. "I know that you are aware that getting the ring from Mister Chevalier is important. But I also know how you can never look away from those who are in immediate danger, no matter the situation. We'll save Goldolf, then get the ring and save Mister Sherlock and get Chaldea back to full capacity."

"Mash…" Her words were so optimistic, so hopeful. They were childish and stupid, because the situation we were in wasn't ideal. Yet, I couldn't help let a smile cross my lips, and my eyes watered. This was Mash, my loyal Servant, my confidant and my friend. If she said that I could do this, then of course it had to be so.

I looked at my watch and my eyes widened as a thought entered my mind.

"Alright, let's go save Goldolf! Come on, we need to go to the Border so we can track him down through his Mystic Code! We can use the scanners to see where he is!"

"Oh that's right! Lead the way Senpai."

We turned and ran, going through the streets in a hurried pace.__

_Hold on Goldolf, we're saving you! _


	13. 2-6

2.6

I looked up at the vast encroaching blackness. It knocked my breath away at the emptiness of it all. I was so used to looking up and seeing the shining stars illuminate my way. To gaze and let them guide me when cut off from the commodity of technology. But the city's light polluted the skies, blocking them from view. Their absence hit me hard, as now I didn't even have my solace of losing myself in the infinity of space beyond humanity.

_Even that was taken from me…_I look down and stared at my watch, seeing all the time I had lost. It was past one in the morning…!

"Fuck…"

I felt like my chest was too tight and I winced when my teeth pierced through the flesh in my cheeks. This was a fucking stupid move, so fucking dumb! What the hell was I thinking!?

_Was that assholes' power still affecting me then!? I should've gone for the damn ring and fixed our problems!_ I looked at the violent waves crashing against the shores, failing to make any difference._ We could've stormed those assholes, we could've saved Goldolf without any issue...what if he died...what if he's already dead…? _

"Sempai!"

I looked back to Mash, who stared at me with concern in the dark tunnel. Her gaze had me breathe in deeply. _No, fucking snap out of it Ritsuka...you need to keep going. This isn't the time for self pitying...Mash believes in me and that's all I need to keep going. I've defeated Singularities, Lostbelts, Beasts and everything else...I won't let some two-bit thugs best me._

I nodded at her; she stared at me a moment longer before she turned and walked deeper into the hole the Shadow Border had crashed into. I followed after her. I took note of the mostly cleaned up sewer passage; no longer were there any scattered parts of the Border around. Da Vinci-chan had seen to that yesterday. It had been a hard working day in preparation for today-_-and it all went straight to shit...fucking hell…_

Movement caught the corner of my eyes and I turned to look right. A small sparrow was perched on the wall, its head tilted left as it looked down at me with big glowing blue eyes. Its gold and blue wings spread wide with a 'creak-creak-creak'. The metallic sound was accompanied by the bird flying from its perch and landing on my shoulder. I looked at the small robotic avian and snorted.

"Miss da Vinci knows we're here then," Mash stated, looking back at me and I nodded. I focused beyond and saw a large spot covered in white blankets. We continued, pushing the coverings away to reveal the Shadow Border. Most of the damaged parts had been removed, leaving the large vehicle looking bare, almost naked. Pieces had been taken out and replaced with new parts, from the back. I squinted my eyes as I noticed three ruptured tires thrown carelessly at the side of the Border alongside the screwdrivers, drills, wrenches and other equipment.

"Geez...Meuniere must be crying." The oil stained floor and ruined green uniform was very telling. I raised an eyebrow at the few dozen ripped open wrappings and bottles.

Shaking my head, we entered the Shadow Border, and the cool air made me shiver. We walked through the halls to head for the Command Center- I stopped and looked at the medical bay. I bit my lip.

"Sempai?" My eyes flickered for Mash's and I sighed.

"I just want to see how Holmes is doing."

"...me too, I wonder if Mister Sherlock has gotten better."

I walked towards the medical facility, gesturing for the girl to follow me. She did so and we entered the sanitized white room. Stopping by the door, I looked down at the mass of cables that enmeshed the metal floor. I raised my foot higher that it needed to be as I hopped over the cables and into the clear spots. I did this two more times, noticing the mass of cables connecting to something down on the floor.

It was Mash's shield, the one given to her by the heroic spirit and knight of the round table, Galahad. The bluish-black and grey shield sat in the middle of the medical bay, cables connected to its smooth features as it crackled with blue mana. It glowed every ten seconds, before dimming down and repeating the process. The defensive weaponry flashed as blue orbs of energy formed around the shield, but dissipated quickly.

"Still nothing, huh…"

"Mister Sherlock…" I turned to see Mash leaning over a bed, a few dozen cables running all over it. I walked towards the bed, standing beside Mash and frowning. Holmes was covered in white bandages from head to toe, the only visible bits of skin being his nose and a little of his cheeks. I sighed as I recognized the bandage and nodded in relief.

They were cloths enchanted by a multitude of Servants back in the days before the world had been invaded by the Alien God. Medea, Irisviel, Tamamo and Scheherazade had all worked into making our medical equipment become much more effective. The cloths were so good that they could cure all type of injuries or illness that anyone could suffer. How many times had I broken bones and wrapping them around myself had me up and running in a few hours, or days depending on how bad the injuries were. Seeing them on Holmes made me feel better; I hoped that his injuries are all healed.

_But he isn't waking up...you should've gotten the ring you idiot—shut up!_

My lips pursed as I took in the sight of Holmes with a dozen of cables and tubes jabbed into his form. I had to wince at the tube going in his mouth and down his throat. Just how deep did it go?

"Mash-chan, Ritsuka-chan." The two of us turned around at the same time, looking as da Vinci waved at us with a cheeky smile from the entrance of the infirmary. She walked towards us, looking around. "You got back here quite late. Where's my captain?"

"He was taken by the same criminal group that we faced a few days ago…" I stated grimly and da Vinci's smile dropped.

"Was it revenge for last time?"

Mash shook her head. "They weren't after us, they were going after some other criminal who spoke to us… Goldolf was taken because those criminals wanted to escape!"

"How very cowardly...but what can be expected." The renaissance Servant shook her head and I frowned. I looked back at the unmoving Holmes, then focused back on the Servant.

"Can we track Goldolf's Mystic Code, da Vinci-chan?"

"Indeed, come on. Let us see where these despicable people have taken our dear old captain." Following after her we made our way to the Command Center. Entering, I took notice of the dirty and drooling Meuniere. We stopped as we looked at him. "My, seems I might have overworked him a little."

"Is the Shadow Border doing okay Miss da Vinci?" Mash asked after a second.

"It's mobility will be restored five days, a day before our deadline I have to say." The Servant moved towards the computers in the Command Center, sat on the chair and started typing a few keys. I walked over to her, placing a hand on the head of the chair and looked at the computer screen as it changed to reveal a map of New York. There was a blue beacon where the P.R.T. HQ was supposed to be, showing Chevalier's ring location I looked away from the blue dot and focused on the yellow one that was in-

"That's Hell's Kitchen." Da Vinci hummed. "Seems like these Teeth are trying to hide in plain sight."

"We can save him now." Mash smiled and I imitated her, nodding. "I'll go and get my Ortenaus suit and-!"

"You will do no such thing!" Da Vinci whirled her seat around, making me stumble back in surprise when she ripped my hold away. I blinked and frowned.

"What? Why!?"

Da Vinci frowned back. "You're being too reckless! Have you forgotten the situation we are in?"

"No! But we need to go and save Goldolf before he gets killed!"

"He was quite aware of the dangers he was facing when he decided to go along with you two."

I gritted my teeth in response.

"You're talking like we should leave him to die!"

"Ritsuka, I'm days away from becoming a non-functioning meat puppet! And all your Servants will disappear! You need to get your priorities in order. Did you even get close to the ring?"

"Miss da Vinci we did… but it was after Mister Goldolf was taken from us." I nodded at Mash's words and took a step forward.

"I put saving Goldolf as priority. These guys aren't afraid of killing innocents, you already know what happened! Two people died under my watch da Vinci! And...one more person died because they sneaked up on us!" My chest tightened as the image of the dead officer entered my head. With the adrenaline gone and the worry of Goldolf's kidnapping lessened, I could see the entire events of today with more clarity.

Da Vinci's expression softened and I felt my insides twist. "I know Ritsuka, and I've told you it wasn't your fault. But you can't let this get you to start acting so irresponsibly! Why didn't you try to negotiate for the ring?"

"Because...because Goldolf could be…"

"Dead?"

I cringed, biting my lips and closing my eyes. There was silence as I looked down at the floor. I tried to stand straight, but winced when I met da Vinci's icy blue gaze. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I raised my head to find Mash staring at me. She opened her mouth, looking at da Vinci.

"We...we will save him...and…"

Da Vinci raised her hand. "Don't try to justify yourselves. You two aren't new at this, you know of the danger we all go through. Especially you two. You've seen allies die before, sacrifice themselves! You could've obtained the ring and saved Goldolf in short order. How many hours ago was it since he was taken? How do you know that he isn't dead already, especially if you express concern at the violence of this group? Ritsuka, what happened?"

I gritted my teeth, looking away. I recognized the problem clearly, I could see why it was that I was so up in arms about things. Goldolf wasn't a Servant - Goldolf couldn't be summoned into the ranks of Chaldea as if nothing had gone wrong, nor could he die with the expectations that it would be fine since he was going back to a Throne outside time and space. Goldolf had none of that; if he died, then it was over. He would die just like-

"Doctor…" A small gasp had me looking up. Da Vinci head was bowed and she was frowning. A small sigh escaped her.

"You still haven't gotten over it, huh…"

"I know I should've gone for the ring...trust me, I know, but I couldn't waste time. Chevalier was trying to get me to stay at the heroes' base, and what if I couldn't convince him to give up the ring? It's a wedding band!" I frowned and shook my head. "I'll deal with the consequences later, but right now what's important is to come up with something to save Goldolf."

"You'll deal with the consequences later huh?" Da Vinci parroted me, her face neutral. Her tone had me gazing back at Mash, who had her hand on her chest, looking nervous. "You say that so easily…"

"Da Vinci-chan-!?"

She interrupted me, "Have you given any thought on how you're going to bring Goldolf back? You probably noticed that the summoning circle isn't working."

Mash stepped forward. "What's wrong?"

"Whatever is causing our troubles is getting in the way of the summoning ritual. The Servants are not responding at all to any of the calls. We've had the circle there for the past twenty-seven hours and nothing has changed...I'm beginning to think of shutting it down to preserve the Mana we have in our storages." The Servant looked at me, her eyes narrowing slightly. "It's why I'm asking you if you have any plan to get Goldolf back, Ritsuka."

I grasped my chin and closed my eyes. "We can use Mash's Ortenaus suit for defense while you provide attacks from afar with your mecha birds and analysis."

Da Vinci shook her finger at me. "My little birds aren't going to help much Ritsuka. Right now most of my offensive equipment is being repurposed for repairs of the Shadow Border. I only have a bird capable of tazing and two made for long distance surveillance. So you can't count on me too much, and I would ask you not to force Mash's hand too much either. I wouldn't know what to do if the Ortenaus system suit gets damaged."

"Shit…" So we were out of options? With no Servants responding to our call, da Vinci being gimped with repairs and Holmes out of commission, our fighting forces were crippled. This was absolutely the worst case scenario right now...

"Sempai." I blinked and looked at Mash, who had a thoughtful expression. She looked at me and her eyes went wide. "What about Mister Felix?"

"Who?" I frowned and Mash's face grew determined. She walked towards the computer that da Vinci was using and got around her. Mash took out her glasses, grabbed a small USB and connected it to the computer. She typed a few keys as I walked over and the screen flashed with a familiar face.

Da Vinci raised an eyebrow. "Who is this?"

A grin started forming in my lips as an idea crossed my mind. "Felix Swoop...a criminal who I inadvertently saved when we got to this world. He made an offer to us about joining his gang!"

Mash look at the inquisitive da Vinci. "If we can find him we can get him to help us!"

"Are you sure? You two are being reckless again."

"No, this is a definitely a route we can pursue." I looked down at the Servant and my face grew serious. "He seemed adamant to get me to join. And from what I heard? He's been causing problems, so whatever he wanted with me was to either fix the mistake or get a lesser punishment!"

"He mentioned about his gang punishing members, right Sempai?" I nodded and she looked back at da Vinci. "We can convince him to help us!"

The renaissance Servant clicked her tongue. "You two are hopeless...I should really be ignoring all of this and getting you to focus on getting us that ring...but we could use the extra muscle. If we can join this gang, and get them to work with us then we will have better protection in this enemy territory. And dealing with a couple of thugs would be much easier than dealing with government body. It would be a temporary alliance and we can leave without much hassle when we're done here, the worst I can see happening is a fight breaking out. But we can handle it, something I don't think would go as smoothly with these P.R.T. people. Fine, I'll go along with this crazy plan of yours."

"Yes!" I grinned at Mash and she smiled happily at me. I was about to say something, but a strong grip on my right forearm had me gazing at da Vinci's icy eyes.

"But...I want you to learn something from this situation. You can't do this, not again. This isn't a Singularity or a Lostbelt." She tightened her hold on me when I opened my mouth. "Your problems aren't going to disappear like before Ritsuka, they won't go away. This is the real deal, your actions will have consequences - not just on you, but on everyone."

"Da Vinci-chan…" I bit my lip at the scolding, feeling the back of my neck hot and itchy. Shifting from leg to leg as the Servant look at me. I gazed at Mash behind me, but she wasn't even looking at us as she bowed her head. I cringed as the silence dragged on and focused on the little Servant. A minute passed and she pointed at me, her right index finger pressing against my chest.

"Remember why we are here. We were sent because the Wizard Marshall believed in us, he trusted that we would be capable of saving this world and all the ones that stand parallel to it. You are a hero in my eyes...but you're also human, don't forget that you can't save everyone. You chose Goldolf, over everyone else. Let's just hope this doesn't lead us down a path we can't recover. Do you understand me?"

I looked at her, and averted my gaze. The weight of her words came crashing down on me.

_Be brave and be responsible, Ritsuka-chan._

Again those words echoed within me and I gritted my teeth. I had made a choice, whether it was a bad one or good one remained to be seen. I let out a shaky breath and dared looked back into the heavy gaze of the genius before me.

"I understand."

"Good, now tell me everything that happened today."


	14. 2-7

2.7

I took a sip of my energy drink, wincing at the sour and bitter flavor. The only good thing about it was that it gave me the little boost I needed to stop my eyelids from closing. I shook my head as I let the hand holding the can fall to my side. Wiping the corner of my lip I looked up. A black dot flew through the blue sky, straining my eyes. I could barely see its shape. I let my gaze fall and focused on da Vinci as she strolled through the sidewalk confidently, hands busy with a small tablet. She was attracting a few gazes, I could see women cooing at the Servant's colorful frizzy outfit.

I snorted at that. "Any luck?"

The genius Servant gazed back at me, then looked down at the tablet. On it was a photo of Felix Swoop, the man looking smug as he spoke, illuminated by his flaming birds.

"No, unfortunately not. My little birds are moving through Harlem's air space and spying inside of apartments, but I can't find this face." Da Vinci looked at me and gave me a small smile. "But you must have patience, Ritsuka-chan! You can't start running headlong into conflict recklessly without planning ahead!"

I cringed at the barb, looking away. I crossed my arms over my black Winter Mystic Code and groaned. "Yeah…"

"Don't worry Sempai, we'll find them." Mash smiled at me as she placed her hand on my shoulder. She wore a similar outfit to mine.

"I hope so…" I gazed ahead, pursing my lips. I knew that my actions yesterday were rash and stupid, but there was no time to regret them. If I had gone after the ring I doubt I would've been able to negotiate for it. It would have taken time to think of a way to justify why a hero should give me his wedding ring, _or make it believable if I decided to reveal the full truth about Chaldea and the end of the world,_ and with all the time passing I would have been getting more and more worried for Goldolf. With all of that weighing on my mind I doubt I'd have been able to successfully negotiate for the ring. I was emotionally compromised, something I didn't have to deal with in most Singularities or Lostbelt.

At least that's what I told myself, in the end these thoughts were just what ifs and could've beens. I made my choice and I would see it through. First we needed to make contact with the Adepts, then we could establish relations, and finally a mutual partnership.

I looked around at the people walking the sidewalk talking, on the phone, eating, smoking—I strained my ears and listened to the roar of the city life. The vehicles moving, the hissing from the store generators, the music inside the businesses. But more importantly, I listened to the people talking.

"You heard right?"

"The Teeth are back in New York...fuck…"

"Crap! What if Butcher decides to come after me?"

"What the hell are the P.R.T. doing? I know! I know! But have you seen what's been happening?"

"I heard the Adepts pissed some gang off…"

"You know I saw some guy with bones around his costume...was that a Teeth member?"

"John, hey. Yeah listen, the deal in Hell's Kitchen? We gotta reschedule, heard we've got some guest taking residence there."

"Hey...I recognize that girl...wasn't she on the news…?"

"Tensions seem to be high in the city, don't they, Ritsuka-chan?"

I blinked, disengaging from the people around me and looked down at the genius. "Yeah...seems a little tense."

"It's weird though…" The bespectacled girl hummed. "I haven't seen any police officers...or any heroes patrolling the streets…"

"Indeed, my dear Mash! It is as I had thought when you explained things to me. The heroes here seem to be struggling in keeping the order. The actions appear to be more of a wait-and-respond kind of approach. A strategy that is fantastic for dealing with an unknown threat, but horrible for our needs."

The younger girl bit her lip. "Then they really wouldn't have gone after Mister Goldolf?"

"Doubtful that they wouldn't try to save him, but they would play it safely. These heroes are too cautious. They seem to be holding themselves back out of fear of even the slightest collateral damage. The only reason I agreed with this is because of the flexibility that this villain group can present to us." Da Vinci looked at me. "It is the rigidity of the heroes that has me not thinking too fondly of joining the heroes for now. Arriving late at cafe where you were attacked? The ambush yesterday? Allowing so many villains into the city? I much prefer for Chaldea to do this investigation by itself."

I grabbed my left bicep, tightening my hold. "What about Solomon's ring? We still have to go to Chevalier and get it from him?"

The renaissance inventor looked up, "Let us establish a cooperative union with these Adepts and have them in our back pocket, then we can go after Chevalier and negotiate for the ring."

Mash frowned. "He won't be too happy with us...he'll think we've become villains…"

"Damn it...we could reveal our origins right?" I frowned. "How would the heroes take it?"

Da Vinci pulled another window in her tablet, "Hrm, that is something that we can discuss for later. Now that I'm not busy fixing the Border there's a few interesting tidbits of information here about this world."

"Alright, but we still need an opening in the negotiations for getting the ring in our possession." I said as I looked at the little genius and she sighed.

"You threw away that shot yesterday Ritsuka-chan."

"I know, I don't need you to remind me all the time…" I groaned out and she raised an eyebrow. I looked away and continued walking. "Let's focus on fixing the situation now. We save Goldolf, get the ring after that. We still got a couple of days right?"

"Indeed we do, but…" Da Vinci stopped walking and frowned. "That's a Saint Graph…?"

"Huh?" I looked at Mash with a raised eyebrow and she shrugged. "What do you mean that's a Saint Graph...don't tell me there's a Servant in New York?"

"I'm...I'm not sure Ritsuka-chan…Oh!" The inventor pursed her lips. "It has disappeared, it would seem."

"Was it a glitch Miss da Vinci?"

"Maybe...though it was in the edge of the scanners, but it is most curious." The Servant looked at the two us. "Be ready for whatever it could be, let's go get that extra muscle. What appeared in the radar was closed to Goldorf's location."

I narrowed my eyes. "What's going on?"

"Like I said, just be-Found him!"

Mash stopped and I found myself doing the same, my eyebrows shooting up. "Where!?"

"He's up in the apartment rooms on top of a bar, it's two blocks away…" Da Vinci raised an eyebrow as her cheeks turned red. "He seems rather busy."

I think I knew what she meant by 'busy' in this context, but I didn't pay it any mind. I frowned and looked at da Vinci.

"What about the Saint Graph you saw?"

"I don't know and I don't want to take any chances. Currently speaking what you have at your disposal right now is a support team, not an offensive one. So let's get these Adepts working with us and we can investigate the Saint Graph and rescue Goldolf."

I nodded. "Then let's go!"

We walked fast, letting da Vinci guide us through the crowd of people. I clenched my fist, wondering how this would go. I had to convince Felix Swoop to let me join his gang after I told him no. Would I have to appeal to his ego maybe and beg? Or could I offer something to him which would let him be easier to convince?

_He's a Casanova wannabe…_

I shuddered; I wasn't going to bed him to gain an advantage. I had standards and I'd dealt with worse. I just needed to play my cards right and see how things turned out.

We arrived at the bar, a shabby looking place. It was a three floor building, grey and brown. The sides were coated in graffiti and the garbage accumulated on the side alleyway was large enough that it blocked the passage through it. The front wooden doors of the bar were old and had chunks of it ripped — it was even missing the door handle. We looked at each other, and Mash frowned.

"Is this the place?"

Da Vinci looked up to the windows above the bar, smirking with a knowing look. A mechanical bird was perched on the window and it looked down at us.

"Well, it is his face. Come on." She moved towards the entrance and we followed after her. We pushed open the doors easily and stopped. I looked at Mash who narrowed her eyes as da Vinci continued moving forward confidently. I took a step forward as the door was closing behind, my ears strained as I heard something from outside.

"...hey what do those chicks think they're doing…?"

"...that's Adept territory...ne recruits…"

PTUTH! PTUTH!

The doors closed heavily and I looked back at it as I walked. _Well we seem to be in the right place at least. _A dozen steps through the old, dirty and cracking hallway, another door and we reached the bar proper. The catchy seventies music had me looking towards the jukebox in the corner, and the stacks of cds and cassettes spread around the old music box, along with a radio. I took notice of the pool table, which had dozens of dirty magazines scattered on it. The tables and chairs were all packed in the opposing corner. And finally, my gaze went to the counter in front, adorned with multiple bottles of alcohol—alongside the woman sitting in the stool who turned around and looked at us.

Brown pixie-bob hair, dark crimson lips and black eyeshadow — I took in her details as she looked at us with an annoyed sneer. Getting up, her disheveled open gray vest showed off her white button-down dress shirt and black pants. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"You lost? Get out of here, the bar's closed." The woman's eyes focused on da Vinci and she frowned. "And get the kid out of here, this isn't a playground."

I clenched my fist, this was it. "I'm here to talk with Felix Swoop."

The woman's eyes narrowed and she groaned. "Another one…? How does this asshole do it? Listen, if that asshole cheated on you or told you about having a future with him it was a lie. You aren't the first girl and you won't be the la-"

"No!" I cut her off. I was starting to regret this choice. God, could I get a fucking redo? "Listen, I'm here for his offer of joining the Adepts."

Her eyes went wide, then gained a glint of recognition. "You're the girl who pulled birdbrain out of trouble, huh. Thought you said no to the offer."

"I changed my mind," I responded as her eyes went to Mash and da Vinci. I stepped further in front and her gaze focused on me. "Now what do I need to do, to join in?"

She ground her teeth, nodded and then extended her finger up. I frowned, but then the air distorted as a translucent three meter purple wall appeared on her fingertip. I tensed, Mash jumped in front of me, readying her backpack and-

"Hey asshole! Get down here!" She slammed the purple forcefield up into the ceiling, THUMP-THUMP-THUMP! "Stop fucking around and fix up this mess!"

I felt myself deflate at the action, looking at Mash blink in confusion. Da Vinci's chuckle made me turn towards her and she looked at me with a raised brow.

"I think...this was a bad move."

I cringed. "Should we leave then…?"

"Let's see how this goes." Da Vinci smiled at me. "I have the Ortenaus suit ready for deployment in case things go south."

I nodded, and looked up when I heard hurried footsteps. The door beside the counter slammed opened and in stepped Felix Swoop, skidding to a halt. He was shirtless and holding his pants to keep them from falling. He looked at the woman with wild eyes.

"What the hell Paddock!?"

Paddock rolled her eyes, pointing at me. "I'm not dealing with your messes. You fix this."

Swoop looked at me and his eyes went wide. "Wait...what are you doing? Don't tell me that asshole Chevalier is having you arrest me as some test or something."

"No he isn't. I'm here about your deal."

"What…? But you said no." Swoop scratched the back of his head and I sighed.

"Yes, but I need your group more than I need the heroes." Lying through my teeth as easily as I breathed. "The Teeth have a friend of mine and I need to save him, now."

"Whoa, whoa! You came here to get us to help you take on the Teeth? Yeah, sorry, but no." He waggled his finger at me, then smirk. "But I can get you in the Adepts though…"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "This was a mistake…"

"You shouldn't be taking this for granted Swoop." A new female voice had me looking at a young woman, disheveled black hair and wearing way too much eyeliner, walking to stand beside the Adepts members.

"You know how the big idiot is, Thirteenth." Paddock rolled her eyes as Swoop groaned at the two women. He sighed and scratched his chin as he gazed at me, Mash and da Vinci.

"So...fatty was taken?"

I sighed, "His name is Goldolf and yeah, can you help me?"

"Why not go to your Protectorate buddies? You seemed pretty determined to get to them." He crossed his arms, then quickly snapped his hands towards his pants as they started to slip off.

I opened my mouth, but was interrupted by Thirteenth. "She most likely did go to them, and they told her they were too busy. Am I right?"

Mash scratched her cheek, "They said that they would have to go on about it carefully, but we couldn't wait for when they got ready. We need to save Mister Goldolf now."

Thirteenth scoffed, "Humph, the Protectorate never changes huh, always with the waiting game."

Da Vinci hummed, "Hmm, your tone seem rather bitter."

"None of your business you little brat! Keep your mouth shut while grown ups talk," the black haired woman growled.

Swoop patted her on the shoulder, eyes narrowing. "Calm down, don't chew them out Thirteenth Hour."

She scoffed, then looked at me. "Your friend is probably dead, so you're better off just giving up on him."

I felt my chest tighten. "I still have to try."

"How naive, though I guess it's to be expected from someone who throws themselves at the Teeth of all people in a fight." Paddock shrugged, then poked at Swoop. "She has more balls than you though."

"Ah man, she's hitting on all my sensitive sides with this whole loyal friend shit." Swoop scratched the back of his head and then grinned, placing a hand over his heart. "I've been charmed! I just want to help this ailing damsel with her troubles!"

Paddock sneered at him. "You just want to get in her pants!"

"Do not!"

"Oh for the love off-!" Thirteenth groaned and looked at me. "Hey listen, you want help in getting your friend back? You gotta help us get the Teeth off our fucking back, because we've been hearing news of more of them getting to New York. Sooner or later Butcher XV is going to come in and wipe the floor with the Adepts."

Da Vinci crossed her arms. "We can give you support, thought it is doubtful we can fully go on the offensive. Unless you would be willing to help us with another venture…"

I whirled towards the Servant. "Da Vinci!"

The Servant shrugged. "What? We already discussed that getting the ring might prove to be a challenge. It is better to have insurance just in case we might need to steal it."

I groaned, "This is going to get us in the heroes shit list."

"Da Vinci? Is that little girl a cape?" Paddock's voice made me look at the three Adepts. I pointed at the Servant.

"She's part of my power." Going with the theme that was given to me already and to avoid showing our hand more than what we needed. Swoop nodded.

"So you really are going with the fictional characters theme, huh?"

Paddock raised an eyebrow at him. "Dumb ass, you do realize that Leonardo da Vinci was real right? And certainly not a little girl!"

Swoop shrugged. "That's why I said fictional? What about the other girl? She's-"

"She's not a projection," I cut him off and he raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Sorry, sorry...someone's touchy about the imaginary friends thing…"

Thirteenth scratched her cheek. "You want to steal a ring? Is that really it?"

Da Vinci shook her head. "No, no! First things first, what we need is your help getting our friend back. Then we'll help you deal with the Teeth, since they're most certainly going to come after us and naturally we shall use you as shield, just like you will use us as one. So why not just ally and take down a common enemy, hmm? We might tell you once our heavyset friend is safe and sound. We're on the clock after all."

Swoop looked at his partners and shrugged. "They make a good argument, let's get them in."

Paddock rolled her eyes. "You're just saying that because you know that presenting new recruits for the group is going to get you off the shit list with Epoch."

"Get _us_ off the shit list with Epoch you mean." Swoop gave her a crooked smile and Paddock growled.

"I swear to fucking christ…"

Thirteenth flipped her hair back. "So do I call a meeting and get the others to agree in letting them in?"

Swoop whirled towards her. "What!? No! We can take care of Reaver and Animos by ourselves!"

"And get into more trouble with the rest of the Adepts, dumbass!?" Paddock stabbed her finger into the man's chest. "Your dumb stunt got us nearly killed by the Teeth, kicked out of the Adepts, and now all the members in Tier Four hate us! All of them!"

"You're just angry you can't date Oracle."

"Fuck you! Thirteenth call the damn meeting!" The other woman shrugged and walked towards the old styled phone in the corner of the bar.

Felix Swoop waved at her. "Hey, hey, hey! I'm the bossman in this joint! I-let go of the phone! Damn it, Thirteenth Hour, think about it, if we take care of the Teeth by ourselves, think of what's in it for us!"

Thirteenth stopped and looked back at us. She chewed on her lip as she thought about it. Paddock groaned.

"Oh fuck no! You aren't doing this Swoop!"

"Think about it! If we help honey over there." He motioned towards us with a grin, "We not only get a kick ass recruit in our group who will work with us, but we'll be back on Epoch's good side! Think about it, we can actually pull this off! You just don't know how kick ass honey was in the cafe! I mean, she and her familiars and all that. It was amazing, and that was with Sherlock Holmes. Imagine with Leonardo da Vinci now? She probably can draw some kick ass thing!"

"I'm an inventor actually."

"Even better! We'll get someone who projected a Blaster and maybe a Brute, and now a Tinker with who knows what! Fuck! The modest girl in the back had a shield when I went to them yesterday! And that thing pushed my birds back when they were in phoenix reborn mode!"

Paddock looked at the opposing woman. "Do you really want to listen to him!?"

Thirteenth put the phone down and shrugged. "He's earned us a lot of money and put the two of in Tier Three, hasn't he?"

The man put a hand on Paddock's shoulder. "Listen, we can turn this in our favor. We can beat Animos and Reaver; with Honey - who already beat up Hemorrhagia - on our side, we can beat those two before the rest of the Teeth get to New York! We prove our worth to the big man, and we get to stay with the Adepts. After that the Teeth will be more careful and won't mess with us! It's a win-win!"

"Urgh...god, fine!" She pointed at Swoop. "But if things go south it's on you!"

"Yeah!" He pumped a fist in the air and turned towards me. "You got yourself a deal. We help you get your friend, you help us get those two assholes out of New York. So any idea where they are?"

I looked at the Servant and she brought up her tablet, showing them the map. "Hell's Kitchen, specif-!"

"Oh fuck! They're there!" Swoop took a step back, Paddock looked at the screen as Thirteenth walked back to them.

"So they took back their territory. No wonder we didn't hear from Jack yesterday, he's either dead or he ran off."

Swoop started walking back to go up the stairs. "We need to go there now! We need to kick them off the entrance of the underground paths! Or Epoch is really going to wring my neck!"

"I told you getting that place was a bad idea!"

Swoop had already disappeared through the door, his voice distant. "But we got access to the old P.R.T. secret passages out of it!"

"Dumb ass!" Paddock screamed back as Thirteenth shook her head.

"Hrm...this is going to suck, I can tell…"

I scratched my head, looking at da Vinci. "What do you think?"

The Servant looked up at me. "They seem rather eccentric."

Mash pursed her lips, "And they seem rather eager to get into a fight…"

I shrugged. "Two of them at least want to fight, for greedy reasons...but we've dealt with greedy characters before."

Mash frowned. "Though we don't know of their abilities, well we know of Mister Swoop. And for Miss Paddock, but we don't about Miss Thirteenth?"

Da Vinci hummed, turning towards me with a coy smile."Which is why it would be a fantastic idea to ask and start coordinating an attack plan, hm? Wouldn't you think Madam Paddock?"

The pixie hair woman snorted. "For a projection you sure have a lot of personality."

"Hehehe, indeed, indeed! A genius must have her eccentricities, does she not? It is because of my genius and renowned curiosity that my Master has defeated quite a number of troublesome foes. Something these Teeth aren't." The renaissance Servant grinned, her eyes shining as she stared down Thirteenth Hour and Paddock. "They may have caught Master off guard, but they failed to put her down twice now. We're trying to aim for a charming victory in our third fight against them, so how about we share notes and see how we can work together, hmm?"

And the line had been crossed — revealing that we weren't new to the game to make sure these three greedy criminals didn't backstab us. Everything had been happening so fast, so many things were being lumped together that for a moment I lost sight that I was doing business with criminals. They didn't even have the benefit of being Servants with great legends backing them as proof of their deeds.

This was a gamble, but—

"As long as you don't betray us, you won't have to worry about us coming after you," I said evenly, watching as the two villainesses looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

The black hair disheveled woman scoffed. "You do realize you're in our territory right?"

It was my turn to scoff. "I've been in worst."

Paddock sighed. "Listen, you just came today and you're expecting us to reveal all our secrets to you? We're only doing this asinine, idiotic and suicidal stunt because the benefits it can earn us are better than the alternative of dealing with punishment month. So you follow ou—"

"Paddock's magic allows her to entrap her targets in an enchanted box of her own making! " We turned to look at Felix Swoop stepping out of the door, dressed in clothing similar to Paddock. I frowned as I noticed how similar it looked to the typical magician clothing one would see in a entertainment show. "As long as her enemies stand in her range, she will trap them! You will need cursed power to break out of it!"

The pixie haired woman looked pissed. "What in the fuck asshole!?"

Felix Swoop ignored her as he pointed at a bewildered Thirteenth Hour. "And this madam here will curse you into a restful sleep, until your destined companion can awake you from her manipulations."

"Oh fuck...I hate it when he does this shit…" The woman groaned as the man gestured towards himself, spreading one arm wide as the room was filled with the sound of flapping wings and 'caws'.

"As for myself, I am the master of my familiars! Phoenixes capable of burning through the toughest of divine metal and lighting a path through the darkest of nights." He grinned as Paddock stalked towards and grabbed him by his coat.

"What the fuck!? Why the hell are you revealing our powers!?"

The man got her hands off him and gestured towards me. "Because I don't want her running off because we weren't cooperative enough. Like you probably already said, this is the perfect opportunity to use each other and we just had the mother of all opportunities drop in our lap. I'm not squandering it, especially when the others would be more than happy to let us die."

"Hrm...but still…" The pixie hair woman backed off, crossing her arms. Swoop turned and looked at me with a smirk.

"'Sides, you said you have someone you gotta save? I got a place and someone to save! Jack still owes me big time. So you better hold your weight, because we're doing this Adepts style."

Thirteenth coughed and we looked at her. "Great, I guess we're all one big happy team and all that despite the fact that we're all using each other. So how about 'honey' tells us what she can do?"

I raised an eyebrow, looking down at da Vinci. She shrugged, "I'll tell them of my genius and of Mash, how about you start thinking of ways to deal with those pesky Teeth. You've dealt with them already and you have an idea of what these fine magicians' abilities are."

"Praising can only get you so far, Leonardo da Vinci...or would it be Leandra da Vinci?" Swoop scratched his chin, and Paddock groaned.

"It would be Leonarda, dumb ass."

"So what you're saying is that it would be better to call the little girl Little Mona Lisa?"

Thirteenth Hour looked at the Servant with a tilted head. "That's a mouthful...and this is weird."

I sighed, feeling Mash stand beside me. She smiled at me and nodded.

"We'll make it work Sempai, we always do."

"I hope so Mash...I seriously hope so."


End file.
